


The Storm That You Were Chasing

by aviciousunicycle



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twister, F/M, Gen, Minor Character Death, Stormchasing AU, this is probably a stupid idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-20 13:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17023122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aviciousunicycle/pseuds/aviciousunicycle
Summary: After their marriage falls apart, Scott seeks out his estranged wife in need of her signature on their divorce papers. Tessa, as is to be expected, is very involved in her work-- including a project she began while working with her husband.Scott gives her 24 hours to prove that the experiment will work. How many of those hours will it take for them to realize that they're still in love?It's a Twister AU, not that anyone has ever EVER thought of making one of those. Hopefully it's not quite as crazy to read as it felt to write.





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> I'm from the old days of fanfiction, so I always feel a compulsion to say that I don't own any of the intellectual properties shown herewithin. I also have no association with any real people here and this, in no way, is meant to represent real events.
> 
> However, I will say that, as a weather nerd, I did do my damnest to turn the bullshit from the movie into legitimate science here. No prediction of tornado strength based on radar data (because that is only determined based on damaged caused), no hiding under bridges, no little balls flying up into a tornado.

_April 1996_

Kate Virtue stood at the window watching lightning flashing outside. “I’m so happy to hear you’re settling in, Casey,” she spoke into the cordless phone she balanced on her shoulder, “Don’t let Kevin give you too much trouble. Remember, he’s not just your brother, he’s your coach, too.” A loud rumble of thunder shook the walls of the house and she said, “I’d better go, son. The storm’s getting pretty bad. Don’t worry, we’re watching the weather. I’ll tell your sisters you said ‘hello’. Your dad and I love you. Talk to you later.”

She walked into the living room to hang up the phone, passing her husband who was sitting on the edge of the couch watching the television. The sound of a weather alert sounded and she froze to watch it.  
Jim turned to look up at his wife, “Go get the girls.”

* * *

The thunder and the lightning had already woken six-year-old Tessa. She had buried her head beneath a thick blanket, hoping to hide from the noise, her favorite teddy bear clutched tight to her chest.  
“Tess?” Kate called from the doorway, “Come on.”  
“What is it, Mommy?” she said, as Kate pulled back the blanket. Tessa blinked as her vision adjusted and she saw her mother standing before her, holding the hand of Tessa’s nine-year-old sister.  
“Come on, sweetie, let’s get up,” Kate urged, “Come on, it’s okay.”  
She released Jordan’s hand to pick up her younger daughter.  
“Let’s get downstairs, Jo,” Kate said, rushing through the hall and calling out to her elder daughter.

“We need to get into the hall closet right now!” Jim shouted up the stairs as the girls charged down the steps.  
He took Tessa from her mother’s hip, allowing his wife to pick up Jordan.  
“Daddy?” Tessa asked, wrapping her little arms around his neck.  
“Don’t be scared, baby, daddy’s got you. Daddy’s got you,” he said, running his fingers over her hair as he opened the door to the small closet.  
They climbed into the closet. Kate and Jim piled coats atop the girls then huddling over them, wrapping their arms around their children.  
“Daddy?” Tessa whimpered up at her father as they felt the house shaking and heard a roar growing louder and louder.

It sounded like a freight train, just like everyone always said in television interviews after a tornado hit. The girls screamed, but they could barely be heard over the noise of the tornado. Windows shattered and they could feel the wind whistling through every gap and crack in the closet walls.  
Suddenly, the closet door was ripped from its hinges and the family was completely exposed to the horrors of the storm.  
“I can’t hold on!” Jim shouted over the wind. Kate didn’t dare look up, but could feel her husband’s hand slipping from her own.  
“Daddy!” Tessa shouted.  
“Oh god!” he yelled, grasping desperately, “I can’t hold on!”  
In an instant, he was gone, flung from their arms and lost into the whirlwind.  
“Daddy!” Tessa screamed, “My daddy!”  
Kate’s arms wrapped tighter around her daughters and she moved atop them, shielding them from the wind.

Seconds later, the winds calmed, and Kate gathered her two sobbing girls into her embrace and carried them free of the rubble.  
Tessa and Jordan wailed against her shoulders and she did her best to maintain her composure for them. Their home was gone, but more than that, Jim was gone.


	2. Someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott finds Tessa and her team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter titles are going to come from song lyrics about weather. You know what-- let's add some fun here-- if you leave a comment, see if you can tell me who wrote/performed the song used for the chapter. 
> 
> Also fun-- see if you can tell who all the characters are here. They'll be introduced soon enough.

_ National Severe Storms Laboratory; Norman, Oklahoma _

“Bryce, take a look at this,” a woman said as she pointed toward an image on a computer screen at her workstation, “Caps are starting to break.”  
Bryce nodded as he sat his coffee cup on the edge of Murphy’s desk and watched forecast models run on the screen. “All the models are forecasting lifted indexes from minus six to minus ten,” he said with a frown.  
She returned the frown, “You know if these cells keep building like this, we could have a record outbreak of tornadoes.” Murphy reached across Bryce to grab a glazed donut from the box at an adjoining desk.  
Bryce ran a hand over his face and sighed, “This is gonna be a long day.”

* * *

_ Somewhere in central Oklahoma _

The radio on a new red Ram 2500 buzzed with static as the driver searched for a station playing music he deemed worth listening to. His hand paused as a weather report issued forth from the speakers. “At 7 a.m. in Oklahoma City, the temperature is 75 degrees. Across the state, skies are partly cloudy, the dryline higher over western Oklahoma. Satellite pictures indicate thunderstorms developing--” Scott Moir abruptly changed the station, finally finding a station playing top 40 country songs.  
“Um, Honey?” came the voice of the wavy-haired woman in the passenger seat, “Are you sure she’s gonna be here?”  
With a smirk, Scott answered, “If I know Tess, she’s already dragged her entire department into the field.” He glanced at the sky outside and continued, “Hell, a day like today, it’s to be expected. She forgets about anything but work.”  
The passenger studied Scott’s face, “You’re nervous about seeing her, aren’t you?”  
Scott’s eyes opened wide and his grip on the steering wheel became a bit tighter, “Nervous? No. Why? Do I look nervous?”  
“No,” she assured him before grimacing and correcting herself, “Well, yeah. You do. A little.”  
He steeled his face to an emotionless expression, “I just want to get it over with.”  
She nodded, “But she said she signed the papers, right?”  
Scott nodded, face still forcefully blank, “That’s what she said.”  
The passenger raised an eyebrow, “You don’t think so?”  
He forced a smile in an attempt to look casual, “No, I think so. Give me a kiss.”  
She rolled her eyes and leaned over the console to press a kiss to Scott’s lips as he pulled the truck into a vacant lot filled with a ragtag caravan of vehicles and people.

* * *

The sound of an OutKast song broadcast from an old, staticy speaker filled the air. A motley crew of people, some working and some lounging, moved about between the vehicles.   
A thumping came from the bay of a transport van before a door opens and a short-bearded man stuck his head out to shout, “Okay, professor, hang on! I think I fixed it! I’ve got it.”  
Atop the van, a woman with dark hair pulled into a messy bun opened a panel on a radar dish. As she reached into the panel, sparks flew out and she flinched away, shouting, “Fuck!”  
“Oops,” the man in the van muttered, retreating into the vehicle.  
The woman atop the van kicks the base of the radar and huffs, “This thing is useless.”  
“Sorry, Tessa,” called the man inside the van.  
Suddenly, without warning, the radar lurched to life.   
Tessa stomped on the roof of the van and shouted, “Wait! Eric! Don’t do anything! It’s good! Give me a reading!”  
Eric rolled his eyes, leaning out of the van again, “Okay, boss lady, hold your horses.”   
He checked the plugs on a laptop mounted to a panel on the wall of the van before turning back to Tessa, “Which way should we look?”  
Tessa wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand before surveying the sky around her, “Looks like the dryline has stalled. Give me a sector scan west-northwest, look at mid-levels for rotation and increase the PRF.”  
Eric nodded and began rapidly clicking keys on the laptop.

A pale, dark-haired young man in another van messed with cables until the tinny sound of the speakers was reduced. He sang along, “Don’t wanna meet your daddy, oh oh. Just want you in my Caddy.”  
Meanwhile, a man with tanned skin and high cheekbones chastised a very young man with messy black hair and thumped him in the chest with a haphazardly folded piece of paper “All I’m saying is don’t fold the maps!”  
“I didn’t fold the map!” the messy-haired man said as he shoved the map back.  
“Yeah, well, Kansas is a mess. There’s a big crease right through Wichita,” the first sneered and began to tightly roll the map, “ _Roll the maps_.”

The thumping of a truck door caused the activity to pause and the group turned in the direction of the noise.  
“What do you know,” Scott said with a smirk, “the storm chasers.”  
The man playing with the stereo, the map man, and a man with a stubbly goatee turned to Scott, eyes wide before they rushed over to him.  
“Hey! I don’t believe it! Who is that handsome devil?” the map man said and punched at Scott’s shoulder.  
“Chiddy,” Scott smiled as he clapped the map man on the shoulder.  
Stereo man held up his arm and screamed, “The Extreme! _ It’s The Extreme _ !”  
Scott rolled his eyes and waved the man off, “Oh, Alex, man, don’t start that shit.”   
As Scott shook Alex’s hand, Alex nodded and said, “A manly handshake ensues. How you doing, man?”  
Scott nodded as he playfully acted as if he were thinking about the question, “Doing great. Doing great.”  
Alex nodded in return, still chuckling, “Dope.”  
Scott motioned for his passenger to join them, “Alex, I’d like you to meet Melissa. Melissa, this is Alex. Shib’s been chasing with us ever since we started.”  
Melissa smiled politely and shook Alex’s hand.   
Scott continued, “Listen, man, where’s Tess?”  
Alex nodded in the direction of the radar van, “She’s over by the doppler. Broke down again. We’re running out of grant money.”  
Scott frowned before turning back to Melissa, “Babe, why don’t you hang out here for a bit? I’ll… I’ll be right back.”  
Melissa looked nervously from Alex to Scott before giving a slight nod, “Okay.”  
Scott knew that she was nervous, but also knew that Alex was mostly harmless, “Alex, why don’t you explain to Melissa why you are… the way you are?”  
Alex threw back his head in a loud barking laugh that Scott answered with a chuckle.  
As Scott turned to walk away, Alex placed a hand on Melissa’s elbow, leading her back to his van, “Come on. Dude, Tess is gonna  _ freak _ when she sees he’s back.”  
“I’m not back!” Scott shouted over his shoulder as he made his way through the group in the direction of the radar truck.

“The prodigal son returns!” shouted a dark-haired young woman as she moved to embrace Scott. He smiled at her, but kept walking.   
A tall man with dark hair held an anemometer and squinted at the digital screen. Scott clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Hey, Pojé.”  
Pojé did a double take before saying, “Hey, Scott.”  
Scott reached the radar van and placed his hands on his hips and looked up at the woman still working on the panel, “Hey, Tess.”  
Without looking up from her work, Tessa responded, “Hey, Scott. Good to know you managed to find us.”  
Scott sighed, “How are you?”  
Tessa stepped back from the radar and looked down at Scott before turning her attention skyward, “It’s alright. Have you seen the sky today?”  
He nodded with tight lips, “Yeah, she’s, uh-- she’s really talking.”  
She tossed a cord off of the top of the van with a shout of “Catch!”  
He only barely managed to do so before the cord hit him in the face and he shot her a dirty look. Tessa didn’t notice the look as she hopped off the top of the van, barely stumbling as she hit the dusty ground, “It’s the biggest series of storms in over a decade. Lined up like boxcars. SPC has us in a high risk and there’s talk of issuing a PDS tornado watch.”  
“Is that right?” Scott said, not even bothering to feign interest, “So, Tess, about the divorce papers--”  
He’s interrupted by the messy-haired man who had been chastised about the maps calling, “Hey, Tessa? Can you come here for a sec?”  
She rushed over to the young man without responding to Scott. He huffed and took off after her, being greeted by other members of the crew as he ran.

When he caught Tessa, she and the young man were looking at a camera. She pulled a wad of grass from where the lens connected to the body of the camera.  
The young man sheepishly looked at Tessa and said, “You want me to clean it out?  
“Unless you’d rather sketch the tornadoes,” Tessa replied, voice sharp with sarcasm.  
The young man’s face brightened as he saw Scott approach, “Hey, welcome back, Scott!”  
Scott shook his head, “I’m not back.”  
Tessa picked up a tablet from a vehicle and continued walking as she tapped at the screen. “So, you want the papers?” she said, not stopping or looking up at Scott.  
Scott frowned, clearly frustrated at Tessa’s refusal to focus, “I did drive all the way out here for them.”  
“They’re signed and ready,” she said, finally stopping as she placed the tablet on the hood of a truck, still not looking up.  
“Good, good,” Scott said, nodding, “Let’s see them?”  
“What? You need them right this second?” Tessa said, disbelief evident in her voice.  
“Well, it’d be nice.”  
“What’s with the urgency? You act like you’re getting married--”  
“I am,” Scott said sternly.   
Tessa’s head jerked up, finally looking at Scott. For the briefest of moments, a look of hurt and sadness crossed her face, but she quickly steeled her expression, “Wow.”  
“Yeah,” Scott said, now finding that he was the one avoiding eye contact as he suddenly seemed to find the toes of his work boots very interesting.  
Tessa turned away from him, walking back to her truck. She dug around in the glove compartment and asked, “Is it Melinda?”  
Scott followed her and leaned against the side of the truck “Melissa,” he corrected.  
Tessa nodded, “Melissa. Wasn’t there a Melinda in there somewhere?”  
He shook his head, “No. There’s only been Melissa since you.”  
“Not much for browsing, eh?” Tessa said, standing back up with a messy pile of papers in her hand.  
“No, I guess I’m not,” Scott mumbled.  
She shoved the papers into his hands, “There you go.”  
“Thank you,” he said, taking the papers and beginning to flip through them.  
As Scott looked over the documents, Tessa reached down to switch a ring to sit next to her wedding ring, disguising the silver band as just any other piece of jewelry.   
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Scott called, causing Tessa’s head to snap up, “You missed a page.”  
“What?” she asked, still half distracted.  
Scott thumped the last page of the packet, “Right here.”  
Tessa took the papers from him and looked at the page as though it was something new. As though she hadn’t read the papers from front to back over and over again. She scrunched up her face, in an attempt to look confused, “Where’d this come from?”  
“What are you doing?” Scott huffed.  
“Can I read it first?”  
“No!” he said, voiced slightly raised, “It’s the same as it was in December.”  
Tessa continued looking at the paper, “I didn’t read it in December.”  
He ran a hand over his face in exasperation, “Christ. Would you just sign it so we can get out of here? Please?”  
Her head snapped up and she looked at Scott in disbelief, “‘We?’ She’s here?”  
Scott groaned, “Yes. She’s here. She’s with Alex. Now would you  _ please  _ sign the paper?”  
Tessa’s eyes grew wide and she chuckled, “You left her with Alex? What’s wrong with you?”  
She begins walking toward Alex’s van, leaving the papers on the hood of her truck.  
“What are you doing?” Scott called.  
“I want to meet her.”  
“No you don’t!” he shouted as he grabbed the papers in his fist and chased after her.

They found Melissa lounging uncomfortably on a ratty lawn chair beneath a beat up beach umbrella while Alex crouched next to her, gesturing wildly.  
“The Suck Zone-- it’s the point, basically, at which the twister sucks you up. I mean, that’s not the technical term for it, obviously, but--”  
Alex stopped talking and froze as his mentor walked up.  
“Hi,” Tessa said with a sickly sweet smile plastered across her face as she stuck out a hand to Melissa, “I’m Tessa Virtue.”  
Melissa stood up from the lawn chair, “Oh! Hello! Nice to meet you!” She took Tessa’s hand and shook it.  
Tessa continued talking in a voice that everyone other than Melissa recognized as dripping with false-happiness, “Scott just told me the great news.”  
“Which news is that?” Melissa said as she crooked an eyebrow and looked between Tessa and her fiancé.   
“Us. Marriage,” Scott said.  
Tessa nodded, “It’s happy news.”  
Melissa’s discomfort was obvious as she said, “I guess- uh- it probably seems kind of sudden.”  
Tessa’s facade cracked just a little, “Sudden?”  
Alex interrupted, “Dude! You’re taking the vows? That’s sweet.”  
Melissa seemed happy to have an excuse to talk to anyone other than Tessa and responded, “Well, we… we just wanted to get it done before Scottie started his new job.”  
“That’s right,” Tessa said with a smile, “That’s right. Weatherman.”  
Scott shot her a dirty look, “What?”  
Tessa shook her head and replied in an innocent voice, “What?”  
“Say it,” Scott challenged.  
“I think it’s great,” Tessa replied.  
“Then what’s with the tone?” Scott asked, narrowing his eyes.  
“What tone? There was no tone,” Tessa said, smirking, “I mean, if you have a problem with being a _weatherman_ \--”  
“I don’t have a problem being a weatherman,” Scott cut her off.  
The ringing of Melissa’s cell phone interrupted what was quickly becoming an argument. She digs the item out of her purse and looks at the screen. “Excuse me,” she said before stepping back and answering the phone, “Dr. Melissa Reeves. Uh-huh?”  
Tessa waved, “Just wanted to say hello.”  
Melissa covered the receiver, “Hello.”  
“Very nice to meet you.”  
“You too,” Melissa said before turning her attention to Scott and mouthing the word ‘Papers.’

Scott sighed and followed after Tessa once more, this time she was circling his truck.  
“New truck?” she asked, admiring the clean, glossy paint.  
“That’s right.”  
“New job, new truck, new wife… It’s like a whole new you!”  
“Tess,” Scott began with a warning tone to his voice.  
“This is very awkward,” she said, cutting him off.  
“I know,” he said, scratching the back of his neck, “Tell me about it.”  
“I thought you’d be coming out here alone.”   
Scott gave her a confused look, “I wasn’t expecting to come out here at all. You said that you’d meet me--”  
“It’s about Dorothy,” Tessa interrupted.  
His expression grew even more confused, “Dorothy? What about her?”  
Tessa bit back a smile, “She’s here.”  
Scott’s eyes grew wide, “Show me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, y'all. See you in a bit.


	3. Like rolling thunder chasing the wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... who is Dorothy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title for the previous chapter came from "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.   
> This one's short-- just over 2 pages in Google Docs. Sorry about that. It won't be long until I'll post the 7 pager, though.

Tessa led the way to her truck and pulled back a tarp, revealing a massive orange metal frame covering a box. Sensors, LEDs, and probes jutted out from the sheet metal box at irregular intervals. Scott looked at the gadget in awe.  
“I can’t believe you did it,” he breathed.  
“Not just one,” Tessa said proudly, “Four.”  
“Does she work?” Scott asked.  
Tessa smiled and lowered the tailgate of her truck. Scott wasted no time climbing into the bed and looking over the instrument package.  
“I thought you would want to be there for her first time out,” Tessa said as he examined Dorothy, “It wouldn’t be right if you weren’t here.”  
The whole team had begun to gather around Tessa’s truck.  
Pojé laughed, “This is gonna be good.”  
Alex led Melissa to the truck and nodded at Dorothy, “How sweet is that? Scott’s concept. Came right outta his brain.”  
“I had a hand in it,” Scott shrugged off, uncomfortable receiving all the credit, especially while Tessa was standing nearby.  
“Wow. It’s great,” Melissa said, studying the device, “What… what is it?”  
Scott responded, “It’s an instrument pack for studying tornadoes.”  
Tessa stepped in “It’s a big deal. A completely new way of collecting data from inside tornadoes. 360 HD video, wind speed, barometric pressure, the works.”  
“But why?” Melissa asked, eyebrows quirked in confusion.  
“Well, the more we know about tornadoes, the more lead time warnings will have,” Scott answered.  
“Aren’t tornado warnings already pretty good?” Melissa asked.  
Scott began to respond before he was cut off by Tessa, “Not good enough. Nowhere near good enough. Right now, the average is 13 minutes. With our research, we may be able to increase that to closer to 20 or more.”  
“Gives people a better chance to get to safety,” Scott continued, “At least, that’s what these guys are trying to do.” He hopped down from the back of the truck, turning to look at Tessa, “I can’t believe you actually did it.”  
“Well,” she said, face coloring with a slight blush, “we did it.”  
“How do you get it in the tornado?” Melissa asked.  
Scott looked away, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish expression, “Well… you have to get in front of the tornado and put it in the damage path… then get out again before it takes you, too.”  
Melissa’s eyes went as wide as saucers and she gaped at her fiancé.  
“It’s the suck zone!” Alex said, entirely too close to Melissa’s ear, causing her to jump.

“Alright!” came the shout of a blonde woman who had been inside the van rapidly typing on a computer up until this moment, “Tess, we’ve got major action! Looks like the caps are breaking, spotters have seen towers going up all along the dryline!”  
Tessa looked up at the sky, pausing for just a moment, before slamming the tailgate shut and shouting, “Alright, you heard her, let’s go!”  
At her word, everyone scrambled to pack everything away and find their vehicles.

As chaos erupted around them, Scott placed a hand on the small of Melissa’s back and led her back to their truck, “They can handle this. They know what they’re doing. I mean, well, this is what they do. They live for this.”  
Melissa nodded, “Are you sure you don’t want to go along?”  
“With them you mean?”  
“Well, yeah.”  
Scott shook his head, “No, they’ll be fine.”  
Tessa drove by, leading the pack, honking at Scott and Melissa as she did.  
“Did she sign the papers?” Melissa asked.  
Scott grit his teeth, “Shit.”  
“She didn’t?” Melissa gasped.  
He jumped into the truck and slammed the door shut, “Come on. If we hurry we can catch them.”  
“Hey, Scott! Glad you’re back!” shouted Alex through the open window of his van.  
“I’m not back!” Scott yelled at him through Melissa’s door.

“Chiddy?” Tessa called into the radio mounted on the dashboard of her truck.  
“Yeah, boss?” Patrick responded.  
“Can we do better than 30?”  
Patrick studied a map for a moment before replying, “No. Not for a while. It’s best to stay on it until we pass Rogers Creek.”  
“Copy that,” Tessa replied, dropping the mic back into its cradle.

“Once we catch up with them, you take the truck and head home,” Scott said to Melissa as he gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white, “I’ll get the papers signed and see you tonight, okay?”  
“No!” Melissa said shaking her head, “You know what, honey. I find this kind of interesting. I’m gonna tag along.”  
As she spoke, a caravan of matching black vehicles with intricate graphics on the doors passed Scott’s truck and pulled alongside Tessa’s team.  
“Jonas!” Scott snorted, “That son of a bitch.”  
“Who is that, honey?” Melissa asked.  
“Jonas Miller. YouTube and Instagram celebrity,” Scott said, speeding up his truck, “He, Tess, and I started out in the same program, but Jonas went out and got himself some corporate sponsors. He’s in it for the attention, not the science. He’s got a lot of flashy gadgets and a social media team, but he doesn’t have Dorothy.”  
Scott picked up his phone and dialed Tessa’s number. She answered him, background noise making it clear she’s on speakerphone, “Hey there. You change your mind?”  
He didn’t bother with a reply, “What’s Jonas doing here?”  
Tessa looked out the window of her truck and saw Jonas’s caravan approaching, “I’m not sure, but I bet he’s asking himself the same question about you.”  
Suddenly, one of the black vans swerved, forcing Scott’s truck to take the ditch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Let me know if this is going alright.  
> See you tomorrow.


	4. Stormy weather, just can't get my poor self together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonas is up to something and Melissa is on to something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of the previous chapter came from the song "Lightning Flashes" by Live.

“Just a flat tire,” the mechanic said as Scott leaned against a post outside of an auto repair shop.  
“How long to fix it?”  
The man shrugged, “Maybe ten minutes. Fifteen tops.”  
Scott nodded, “Sounds good.”

As Scott walked away from the garage bay doors, he saw a news van parked at the gas station across the street. A reporter had a camera right up in the face of a man standing in front of a black pickup truck. Scott clenched his fist and stormed across the street toward the mob.   
When he approached, he could hear the man speaking to the camera, “What drives me is the unknown. What if we could predict a tornado’s path? How many lives would be spared with the creation of an early warning system?”   
Then the man, Jonas, climbed into the bed of the truck and lifted a black tarp revealing a sheet metal box protected by a fluorescent green metal frame. “And D.O.T. 3 is the answer!” Jonas said, motioning toward the device, “She’s equipped with state-of-the-art sensors that can feed data to us in real time. All the while, she’ll be recording the inside of the tornado in 360 1080p video!”  
Scott’s jaw dropped and his eyebrows furrowed.   
Tessa, who had been leaning against her truck, watching the spectacle, saw Scott and called out to him.   
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he shouted, storming closer into the crowd.   
“Scott, don’t!” Tessa called, chasing after him.  
Unaware of Scott’s presence, Jonas continued bragging to the cameras, “Which will soon be the center of all study--” His sentence was cut off as Scott’s hands grabbed the collar of Jonas’s shirt and shoved him up against his vehicle. “Hey!” Jonas shouted, trying to shake free of Scott’s grasp.   
“You stole my design, you son of a bitch!” Scott shouted, “What? Did you think I wasn’t going to find out about this?!”   
Jonas sneered at Scott before calling to his crew, “Hey, guys, get this loser off of me.”   
Before Jonas’s crew can reach him, Tessa’s team is pulling Scott off of the other man.   
“Back off!” Alex shouted, grabbing Scott’s shoulder, “He’s not worth it.”  
“What is the matter with you?” Jonas spat.   
“You stole my design, you son of a bitch!” Scott shouted, trying to squirm free of Alex and Chiddy.   
“Calm down,” Chiddy urged.   
“What the hell are you talking about,” Jonas sneered.   
“Dorothy!” Scott yelled, “You took her, you damn thief!”   
A smug smile settled on Jonas’s face, “Oh, I get it. You want to take credit for my design. Is that it?”   
“You’re a liar!” Scott shouted again, “She was our idea and you know it.”   
“Unrealized idea,” Jonas dismissed, “ _ Unrealized _ .”  
Scott gave another lurch and almost broke free of Alex and Chiddy’s grasp when he felt Tessa’s hand on his shoulder, “Hey! Guys! All my guys, get a grip on yourselves.” She looked at Jonas with a sneer, “Besides, we both know he’ll never  _ actually  _ get that thing into a tornado.”   
“That’s right!” Eric echoed from behind her.   
Jonas puffed out his chest and gave Tessa a look of utter contempt, “Well, let me enlighten you people. This baby has dual-pol radar. Automatic internet uplink. Today, we’re gonna make history. So stick around.”   
Tessa rolled her eyes, but Scott couldn’t help taking one last jab, “We’ll see who gets their first, pal.”   
Jonas chuckled and began walking away before pausing and saying, “Oh, and by the way, I really enjoy your weather reports.”   
His crew laughed as if Jonas had told the world’s funniest joke while Scott made another attempt to break free, requiring Eric to join the group holding him back. “You slime!” Scott spat, “I’m not through with you yet! Come on! Come here! Get back here! Let me go! I’m alright!”  
Only when Jonas had walked into the gas station did the guys feel safe letting Scott go.  
“He’s not worth your time, Scott,” Pojé said, clapping his friend on the shoulder.   
“I’m sorry,” Tessa said, “I should have told you.”   
“One day,” Scott said, turning to her and holding up his index finger, “I’ll give you one day. Whether she flies or not, I’m gone.”   
“Honey!” Melissa called, running up, “Is everything okay?”   
Scott gently grabbed her forearms and gave her a comforting smile, “It’s okay, everything’s fine.”  
“Are you sure?”   
“Yeah. Yeah, everything’s okay.”   
“Okay.”   
He dropped his hands, “Listen, I’m gonna hang out here and get some air. Why don’t you go inside and get us something to drink?”   
She nodded, “Okay, sweetheart.”   
“Okay.”

A while later, Jonas slinked across the truck stop cafe where Tessa was waiting on her order and spoke, “You know, Tessa, I don’t know what the matter is with Scott. I mean, he’s wacko. He’s crazy. You ought to keep a leash on him.”  
Without looking at the man, Tessa responded, “He’s not my problem. He’s yours.”  
He huffed, frustrated that his approach had not created the intended result, “Oh, and by the way, this storm’s going to be a lot bigger than we anticipated. I’ve seen reports of mesos all the way from one end of the state to the other.”  
Tessa raised her eyebrows, “Are you sharing information with me?”  
He shook his head, “No. I was just… curious as to which way you were going to head.”  
“Southeast, I think,” Tessa said with a smirk, “to the counter.” Then she did just that, walked away from Jonas and sat down at the counter beside Melissa.  
“Two lemonades to go, please,” Melissa spoke to the waitress who noted the order.  
“Nothing changes,” Tessa sighed, watching Jonas retreat to the window.  
“Pardon me?” Melissa asked, turning to the other woman.  
“He’s gonna wait and see what Scott does,” she said, nodding toward Jonas before placing an order for a coffee to go.  
Melissa looked confused, “That man’s waiting for Scottie? Why?”  
Tessa gave a half-smile, thinking about her time working with her partner-turned-husband. She began to rave about Scott’s almost supernatural talent for meteorology.  
“So you’re telling me that Scottie knows what a storm is thinking?” Melissa asked.  
“Something like that,” Tessa said, shrugging as she offered Melissa a piece of gum, “My Aunt Meg used to call him a human barometer.”  
Melissa waved off the offer, before turning her eyes to study the laminate of the countertop, “Well, he never really told me about all of this.”  
Tessa was shocked, but not entirely surprised to learn that Scott had not shared much of his previous life-- his life with her-- to the woman that would soon become his wife. She knew that if she commented on Melissa’s confession, she would show far too much vulnerability so she instead said, “If you have to pee, you should do it now. There’s not many places to stop once we get on the road.”  
Melissa turned her attention to Tessa’s face, ignoring the other woman’s attempt to deflect, “You’re still in love with him, aren’t you?”  
A beat passed, silent and heavy between them. Tessa broke it, holding up her hand and calling to the waitress, “Check please.”  
Undeterred, Melissa continued, “Not that I blame you. I just hope this isn’t some desperate attempt to keep him in your life.”  
Tessa pulled a twenty from her wallet and slapped it onto the counter, motioning at Melissa’s drinks, “We’re together.” Without another word, she stood and walked away from the counter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are enjoying the story so far.   
> Your response has been fantastic and I love you all for being so welcoming and willing to give this crazy idea a shot.


	5. You won't know the rain from the tears in my eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tessa confronts Scott about Melissa, but things have a way of becoming complicated when these two are around each other... Though I don't know that "complicated" is usually the way I person would describe a tornado.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The previous chapter title came from "Stormy Weather" by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, best known from performances by Ethel Waters, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Lena Horne, and Billie Holliday. 
> 
> Sorry that I'm just now posting this chapter.   
> Busy, busy, busy.

Melissa walked out of the truck stop not long after Tessa and called out to Scott, “Honey, I got you a lemonade--”   
He cut her off, grabbing a cup from her hand and dashing toward the cars, “We gotta move out. Listen, follow us in the truck, but stay behind Alex-- you’ll be safe back there. I gotta go with Tess.”   
She opened her mouth to question him or argue or anything, but she didn’t have a chance before he yelled, “Okay, let’s move out, people! Let’s go!”   
“Where are we going?” Melissa asked. She received no answer other than Alex’s hand on her elbow ushering her toward the van.   
Tessa jogged past, coffee in one hand, phone in the other, with the keys to her truck held between her teeth.   
“Thanks,” Scott said, taking the keys from her mouth, “I’ll drive.”   
She sneered at him, but didn’t argue as they climbed into the truck.  
Across the parking lot, Jonas noticed Tessa’s crew pulling out of the parking lot.   
“Alright, people,” he said to his team, “Let’s pack up. Let’s go.”

Alex’s voice could be heard over his shitty stereo, shouting out the window at the top of his lungs, “It’s the wonder of nature, baby! Whoooo!”  
The truck just ahead of him, driven by Javi, blared classical overtures, which blended surreally with Alex’s rock music.  
In the truck behind Alex, Melissa’s phone rang once again. “Dr. Melissa Reeves here,” she answered, “Oh. Oh, yes, Derek. You’ve caught me in the car.”  
Two trucks ahead, Kaitlyn turned up a broadway recording and half sang, half shouted, “Ooooooklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains! And the waving wheat…”  
Melissa fumbled to balance the cell phone on her shoulder as she drove behind the caravan, “Derek, this feeling of inadequacy is normal for you. Julia doesn’t resent you. We talked about this before.” She paused for a moment to listen to her patient, “She did not marry your penis.” A beat. “Okay, but she didn’t _only_ marry your penis.”  
Back to the truck two vehicles ahead where Kaitlyn had managed to convince Eric to join in the song, “Oklahooooooooma, okay! Whoo!”  
The atmosphere in the lead truck was much less festive, much more tense.  
“So…” Tessa began.  
Scott returned, “So…?”  
Tessa gave her head a slight shake and leaned forward to look out the windshield, “Amazing coloring out there, isn’t it?”  
Scott nodded, “Yeah, look at those mammatus. Bet those cloudtops are hitting 40,000 at least.”  
She kept her focus outside, “That’s a good thing.”  
“That’s a very good thing,” he agreed.  
Tessa took a deep breath and leaned back against her seat, “She work at the station? Is that where you met her?”  
“Tess,” Scott said in a low, warning tone.  
“What?”  
“I don’t want to fight.”  
“I’m not fighting. I’m talking.”  
“I don’t want to fight,” he repeated.  
Tessa looked outside again, taking just a moment before saying, “She’s nice.”  
“Ha!” Scott shouted, jerking his head toward her.  
“Oh?” Tessa said, quirking an eyebrow, “She’s not nice?”  
“I know what you meant.”  
“You do?”  
“Yes,” he said, “so don’t-- don’t do this.”  
Tessa held up her hands in self-defense, “I am making extremely civilized conversation, here. You’re the one biting my head off. Jesus.”  
Scott sighed, shaking his head as he realized that she had backed him into a corner, “Yes. She’s very nice. No. She doesn’t work at the station. She’s...uh… she’s a therapist.”  
“Oh,” Tessa said, mouth forming a perfect ‘O’ before she bit back a giggle, “Yours?”  
“Christ!” Scott sighed, slapping his palms against the steering wheel.  
“What?” Tessa asked, feigning innocence.  
He narrowed his eyes, “You couldn’t resist, could you?”  
She rolled her eyes, “I’m not saying you need therapy!”  
“What?”  
“I’m not--”  
“Wait. _I_ need therapy?”  
“I didn’t say that.”  
“ _I_ need a therapist?”  
“I didn’t say that!”  
“What could I _possibly_ need a therapist for?” Scott challenged incredulously.   
“I don’t know,” Tessa shrugged.  
“You’re the doctor, Tess,” Scott snapped, “Why don’t you tell me?”  
“I don’t know,” she said, “Inability to finish things?”  
“Finish things?” Scott said, voice still harsh.  
“Rushing into things you can’t quire commit to?” Tessa continued.  
“ _Commitment_?!” Scott shouted.  
“ _You_ asked,” Tessa said, defending herself.  
“No,” Scott said, angrier than Tessa could ever remember seeing him, “that is bullshit, T.”  
She looked at him, eyes wide and clearly ready to argue, but he continued, “I may have walked out, but at least I showed up in the first place! You never had the slightest idea--”  
“The road, Scott,” Tessa said, trying to talk over him.  
He continued ranting, “--about commitment and what being married means. Like _stability_ , supportiveness, a home, and all kinds of neat stuff like that--”  
“Can I drive?” Tessa asked, voice raised loud enough that Scott couldn’t ignore her.  
“No!” he snapped.  
She pointed out the windshield and said, “Then would you?”  
His eyes snapped to the front and he saw that the truck had left the road and was plowing through the tall grass of the shoulder, halfway to a field. Quickly, he jerked the wheel and abruptly returned to the road, throwing up mud behind the vehicle.  
“Someone should warn her about your temper,” Tessa said as she checked the screen of her laptop.  
“Tessa, I swear,” Scott began.  
“She obviously has no idea what she’s getting into.”  
“Stay the hell out of it.”  
“You know.”  
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”  
“What exactly?”  
“What am I doing?”

In the car behind them, Pojé leaned forward between Eric and Kaitlyn, watching Scott swerve Tessa’s truck back onto the road.   
“I think they’re getting better at this,” Kaitlyn said to the two men.  
Pojé nodded, but Eric merely smiled.

“You know what,” Tessa said, “As long as you’re happy.”  
“ _Thank you_!” Scott shouted, “I _am_ happy! I’m a happy person. I’m happy with my life. I’m happy with the way things are going in my life. I’m happy with… with… with--”  
“Melissa?”  
“I know her name!” Scott snapped, “Yes. I am happy with Melissa! I am!”  
Tessa shrugged, hiding a smirk, “Okay.”

Eric’s eyes grow wide as he looks across the field to the right. “Shit,” he cursed, fumbling for the mic of his radio, “Hey, are you guys gonna wrap this up pretty soon?”  
Scott snatched the mic out of its cradle and shouted into it, “What?!”  
Eric snorted before he responded in a voice dripping with sarcasm, “Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if we were gonna chase this tornado or if you just wanna catch the next one.”  
Scott whips his head around to look out the window on Tessa’s side, seeing a funnel cloud. “Shit!” he cursed.   
Tessa took the mic from his hand and said, “Eric, could you see if it was on the ground?”  
Meanwhile, Scott slammed his foot down hard on the gas pedal.  
“Easy, easy, easy,” Tessa said, reaching out to place a hand on his leg.  
Chiddy radioed ahead to give directions to Scott and the group made a left turn down another two-lane road.

Jonas and his driver, Eddie, were in the lead car of their convoy which was following close behind Tessa’s team.  
“It’s on an easterly course,” Jonas said, speaking into a radio, “we need to bear right.”  
Their car radio blared before an automated voice spoke, “The National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma has issued tornado warning number--”  
Jonas reached forward and shut off the device.  
Eddie, meanwhile, noticed the back of Scott’s truck driving off to the left, “Dr. Miller?”  
“Yes?”  
“I think they turned left here.”  
Jonas narrowed his eyes as he looks in the direction of the vehicles, “Do it.”

Tessa spoke into the radio, “We’re moving to intercept, guys. Get ready to set up.”  
“You got it,” Eric responded.  
As Scott sped forward down the narrow road, they met cars flashing their headlights and honking their horns as if to warn the convoy of the dangers ahead. Meanwhile, the tornado tore through a cornfield off to the side.  
“You’ve got to get further ahead of it,” Tessa urged.  
Scott shook her off, “I know what I’m doing.”  
“Cut across the field, Scott!” Tessa urged.  
“I know,” Scott said, “I’ve gotta get ahead of it.”  
“You’re gonna have to get into that field!”  
“Do you want to drive?”  
“I’m just saying--”  
“Do. You. Want. To drive?”  
“Yes!” Tessa snapped, “I’d love to!”  
Chiddy’s voice over the radio interrupted their argument, “It’s about three miles southeast. Let’s see what she does!”  
Tessa spotted a wide, mostly dry irrigation canal that lead out into the cornfield. She pointed it out to Scott, “Go in there! Go in there!”  
“Just wait--”  
“You’re gonna miss it!”  
“Hold on, hold on!” Scott urged, “Just hold on a second!”  
“Have you lost your nerve?” she asked in a voice tinged with taunting.  
A sly smile spread across Scott’s face and he said, “Tighten your seatbelt!”  
Without another word, he reached across the console, grabbed her seatbelt near her hip and jerked it hard, tightening it. He gave the wheel a sharp turn and drove the truck into the ditch all the while, the dashboard indicated that they were flirting with 80 miles per hour.  
“Tessa? Scott? Where are you?” Alex’s voice called over the radio, “We’ve lost visual.”  
The truck bounced through the ditch as it barreled toward the tornado. As they went, the ditch became deeper-- the once shallow sides becoming incredibly steep.  
“Are we having fun yet?” Scott spat, bitterly.  
“Okay,” Tessa said, trying to keep the worry out of her voice, “we’ve got to get out of this.”  
“Really?!” Scott said in a deeply sarcastic tone.  
“Two miles out,” Alex called through the radio, “Looks like it’s picking up speed!”  
“Scott, sometime this week would be good!”  
“I’m trying to get out!”  
Their eyes search the incredibly steep earthen walls on either side of them for some way to escape.  
“Are you mad?” Tessa asked, feeling a bit meek.  
His tone was flat when he answered, “I’ll be mad later. Right now, I’m trying not to kill us.”  
“Funnel’s getting wider!” Alex said, “It’s moving fast. Coming right toward you, Tessa!”  
The team watched as the tornado plowed into a barn, flinging debris high into the air, splintering boards like toothpicks.  
“It’s starting to turn,” Tessa observed.  
“Where?” Scott asked, trying to see over the edges of the ditch, “I can’t see.”  
“You will.”  
“Guys, you’re too close. It’s not gonna work,” Alex said, worry evident in his voice, “Get out of there!”  
Scott’s eyes grew wide as he saw the tornado approaching in their rearview mirror, “Shit! I can’t get out! It’s too steep! This was a great idea!”  
While he was watching the tornado, he almost didn’t notice the small bridge crossing the ditch. When he finally saw it and slammed on the brakes, it was too late to stop. The truck hit one of the bridge’s piers.  
“See, that wasn’t so bad!” Tessa shouted sarcastically, clawing at the door handle, “Let’s get her out! Let’s go!”  
“Why can’t we spend a normal day together?” Scott muttered, throwing off his seat belt.  
When he got out of the truck, Tessa was in the bed, undoing straps on the tarp and the frame of Dorothy. Wind whipped through both their hair, dirt and sand stinging their skin and eyes.   
“We’re in the damage path, let’s go!” he shouted at her from beside the truck.  
She continued frantically working, ignoring him.   
Scott looked between Tessa and the tornado before making a snap decision.   
He grabbed her from the back of the truck, “Tessa, this is crazy! Come on!”  
She thrashed against his grip, “Let go!”  
“There’s no time!” he shouted, pulling her out of the truck’s bed.   
“We can still do this!” she argued, still squirming in his arms  
“Come on!” he shouted over the wind, flinging the passenger side door open. He threw her into the floorboard haphazardly before flinging himself atop her.  
The wind shook the truck violently and Tessa squirmed beneath Scott, trying to free her face.  
“What are you doing?” he said, voice barely audible.  
“I want to see it,” she said, continuing to fight against him.  
“Stop it!”  
“I want to see it, Scott!”  
Something smashed into the side of the truck, causing it to rotate and wedge itself against the pier of the bridge. Scott’s hands came up to cover the back of his head just as debris crashed through the windows and showered his back with glass.   
Then suddenly, just as quickly as it arrived, the tornado was gone.  
Scott raised up, kicked the smashed door open, climbed out and looked around. “It’s gone,” he muttered under his breath, “It’s gone.”  
Tessa sat on the glass-covered passenger seat and took in the damage, “Fuck. My truck.”  
They both jumped as they heard the crashing of a tree falling across the highway and the screech of tires as Melissa slammed on her brakes to avoid plowing into the uprooted plant.  
“Melissa?” Scott said, eyes wide.

The team ran over to Scott’s truck as Melissa exited the vehicle, shaking and hyperventilating.   
“Are you okay?” Kaetlyn asked, as she approached the woman and placed her hands on Melissa’s forearms in what she hoped was a calming gesture.  
“Melissa!” Scott shouted, stumbling out of the muddy ditch.  
“Oh god, Scottie!” Melissa shouted, running toward her fiancé, “Scottie!”  
Scott threw his arms around Melissa, wrapping her up in a tight hug, “You okay?”  
She sobbed against his shoulder, “Oh god… I’m… I’m okay.”  
He pulled back and looked her over, checking for injuries, “You sure?”  
“Scott, dude, she just missed the tree!” Alex said, pointing toward the tree laying less than one foot in front of the truck.  
Melissa looked at Scott, his hair in wild tangles and his body covered in mud, “God. What happened to you?”  
He shook his head, “Nothing, babe. We’re okay. We were perfectly safe.”  
Kaitlyn and Chiddy joined Tessa who had plopped on the edge of the ditch, looking down at her truck, “Gone.”  
Kaitlyn looked thoughtful, “Wait a minute--”  
Tessa huffed, dismissing her friend, “It’s trashed.”  
“No, hang on just a minute,” Chiddy argued, “We’ll take a look. I’ll know.”  
“It’s gone,” Tessa sighed.  
“It’s over, it’s over, it’s all over,” Scott muttered in Melissa’s ear, holding her tight against him and rocking her back and forth.  
Tessa’s eyes moved to the couple. “You okay?” she mouthed.  
Scott nodded and mouthed back, “She’s okay.”  
Alex joined Tessa as she slid down the slippery ditch. “Well, there’s some good news,” he teased, “It made it through in one piece.”  
Tessa rolled her eyes as she gathered her belongings from the truck.  
“What was it like?” Alex asked.  
She huffed as she slammed a duffel bag onto the hood of the truck, “It was windy.”  
“Windy?” Alex asked with a grin, “That’s intense.”  
“Alright, move it, Alex,” Tessa said, shooing him away.  
He held up his hands to show her that he meant no offense, then helped her climb back up the muddy slope.

Just as Tessa and Alex climbed out of the ditch, the line of shiny black vehicles drove up on the scene.  
“Hey, would you look at that,” Pojé shouted, “the auto club’s here!”  
“Maybe we should stop,” Eddie asked Jonas inside the lead car, “see if they need some help.”  
Jonas’s mouth tightened and he gave a sharp shake of his head, “They’re fine. Pay attention to the road.”  
Alex ran up to the van, jumping on the side and hanging his head through the window. “Fashionably late again, Jonas?”  
“Get out of here!” Jonas shouted, shoving at Alex’s hands.  
Alex let go and dropped off the side of the vehicle. “Loser!” he shouted, making an ‘L’ shape with his finger and thumb on his forehead, “Loser!”  
“Why don’t you find your own twister, buddy!” Chiddy called to Jonas.  
Alex, meanwhile, mimed directing traffic for the rest of Jonas’s team, “Move along! Move along!”  
Eric scowled and threw his bag back into his van, “Let’s go.”  
Tessa, bag thrown over her shoulder, checked out Scott’s truck. She raised an eyebrow at him, “You got full coverage on that truck?”  
Scott, looking at her over Melissa’s head, gave her a tight smile. He knew exactly what she was thinking, “Liability only.”  
Tessa wiped the mud from her face with a towel, “Liability only?” She smirked at him, “It’s a very pretty truck.”  
“Thank you,” Melissa said, disentangling herself from Scott.  
Scott gave a nervous laugh, certain that he knew where Tessa was going with her line of questions. She looked at him while repacking her towel in the backpack.  
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned.   
She raised her eyebrows at him.  
“No way,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh-- what's Tessa thinking?   
> Thanks for reading!   
> I intend to have tomorrow's chapter posted... earlier.   
> Well, for me, at least. Don't know everyone's timezone situation. I'm cutting it close here-- 11:55.


	6. The Wind is Blowing Harder Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone ends up just a little too close for comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of the previous chapter came from the song "Crying in the Rain" written by Howard Greenfield and Carole King, originally recorded by The Everly Brothers.

Barely ten minutes later, Scott found himself behind the wheel of his own truck with Tessa in the passenger seat and Melissa looking over his shoulder from the backseat. In the bed of the truck, another Dorothy was safely tied down and covered with a tarp.  
“This is caboose! This is caboose,” came Alex’s voice over the radio Tessa had moved into Scott’s truck, “I’m waiting for orders, boss!”  
Tessa and Scott both reached for the mic. They froze before their hands touched, they reached again, and then froze once more.   
“Go ahead,” Scott insisted.   
“It’s your truck.”   
“No, really. You should.”   
Tessa grabbed the mic as though she knew she would get it the whole time, “Alex, the battle zone should be northeast of 81.”  
“Copy that, Tessa.”  
“Wait a minute,” Melissa spoke, “Battle zone? Scottie, what are we doing?”   
Scott smirked, “We’re going again.”   
“Again?!” Melissa gasped, “But back there you almost got yourself killed!”   
“No, no,” Scott assured her, “Just a close call.”  
“You’re gonna cross 15 on Oklahoma 412. 412,” Chiddy called over the radio.  
“Copy that,” Tessa replied, “Kait, what’s on the mesonet?”  
“Winds continuing to back,” Kaitlyn responded, “VILs are at… uh… 60.”  
“Okay, guys,” Tessa said into the radio, “Let’s go get it!”  
Ahead of them in the distance, they could see the gray elephant trunk shape of another funnel cloud.

Scott breezed past the line of black cars ahead of him, slowing to match speed with Eddie and Jonas in the lead car.  
“Dr. Miller,” came a voice over the radio, “Good southeast gusts at 40 miles per hour. Approaching 150 in the funnel. The storm motion is 225 degrees, coming straight out of the southwest.”  
Jonas spoke into the radio, “We’re in perfect position. Let’s proceed.”  
Eddie looked out the window, noticing Scott and Tessa in the vehicle next to them. He nodded toward them, “Gotta admire their spirit.”  
Jonas sneered.

“There’s your pal,” Tessa snarked nodding her head toward Jonas.  
Scott turned his head to meet Jonas’s eyes, glaring at him with pure malice. His eyes left his rivals for only a moment before Scott slammed on his brakes.  
“What are you doing!” Tessa shouted, bracing herself against the dash.  
He nodded out the windshield, “Look at the angle on the inflow! It’s gonna shift its track.”  
“Are you sure?” Tessa asked, looking at the shape of the storm.  
“Oh yeah,” Scott nodded, “Classic left-turner.”  
“Is that bad?” Melissa asked from the back seat.  
Scott didn’t acknowledge her, instead asking Tessa, “Wasn’t there a road back there?”  
Tessa’s eyes widened as she realized Scott’s idea, “You’re right. Go go go go go!”  
Scott performed a U-turn and slammed on the gas, turning sharply down a side road and speeding off.  
Meanwhile, Melissa’s cell phone rang again, “Hello?! Derek, now’s not a very good time for me, okay? What? Alright. Put Julia on. Okay.”

Jonas studied the radar scan on his laptop and spoke to himself, “Looking good. Looking very good.” He turned to Eddie, “Alright. In about four miles, hang a right. Let’s deploy and we’ll be good to go!”  
As he spoke, the tornado began to change direction. It turned to the left, just like Scott had predicted.  
“Uh, Dr. Miller,” Eddie said.  
“Shit!” Jonas cursed, “It’s moving away! Shit!”  
“Looks like they’re gonna intercept,” Eddie said, nodding toward Tessa’s team.  
Jonas yanked the mic off the dash and shouted, “Damnit, Tony, I thought you said this thing was gonna stay on the same heading!”

The focused silence in Tessa and Scott’s truck was broken only by Melissa’s occasional “Uh-huh”s and “Yeah”s.  
“We’re close,” Scott spoke.  
Tessa took the radio and spoke, “Chiddy, tell me what road we’re on? Where does this take us?”  
While they waited for a response, they overheard Melissa’s conversation, “I know it feels unnatural, but with Derek’s motility, you’re not gonna have this baby the old-fashioned way. Even if you stand on your head.”  
Tessa shot a strange look at Scott.  
He shrugged, “She’s a… reproductive therapist.”  
Tessa knew that she could not comment on that without saying something that would start another argument, so she spoke into the radio again, “Nathan? Nathan, come in. We’ve got to get ahead of this storm. What’s it look like on the satellite.”  
“I can’t talk to you right now,” Melissa said into her phone, “I’ll have to call you back.”  
Nathan Chen’s voice spoke over the radio, “Twister south. Skipping south. V-shaped tornado, ladies and gentlemen. You with me? Very, very large. On the ground. Very large. Right on the ground.”  
“It looks like it’s still turning!” Pojé shouted into the radio, “The atmosphere is very unstable!”  
“This is Chiddy, this is Chiddy, it’s at 2 o’clock. It’s headed this way!”  
“This is Javi, this is Javi! We’re driving due east on a country road we’ve been on for about six miles. We’ve got a V-shaped funnel about a quarter of a mile wide sitting on the ground and she is a beauty!”  
“Tessa, it’s Alex, it’s Alex! It’s not gonna hang out long. It’s not hanging out long!”  
“We got it,” Tessa called, “we got it! We see it!”  
Scott took the radio from her hand, “We’re getting slammed in here guys, barely see anything. You better hang back.”  
The rest of the group slowed as Scott barrelled forward.   
Tessa dug around in the floorboard and found a camera, “This thing charged?”  
“Yeah, go for it,” Scott nodded.  
As she pointed the camera out the window, they began being pelted by fat raindrops. The drops quickly increased to a deluge.  
“Forward flank downdraft,” she muttered.  
“What?” Melissa asked.  
“Look at the rain out in those fields,” Tessa said.  
“Shit,” Scott cursed, “Hang on.” He slammed on the gas as they hit a bridge over a lake.  
Through the rain, they could see the tornado approaching the lakeshore.  
“Jesus, Scott, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one turn this much,” Tessa said.  
He nodded, “I don’t think anybody has.”  
“We’re under the downdraft,” Tessa said.  
“I realize that,” Scott replied as Melissa’s phone rang again.  
“Yes?!” Melissa shouted into the cell phone, “Julia, I can’t talk to you right now!” She hung up the phone and dropped it.  
“We’ll get hit if we keep going,” Tessa said.  
“Watch me,” Scott said, grabbing the wheel tight.  
Wind howled over the hood of the truck, shaking the vehicle.   
“This is not good,” Tessa said, “Get us out of here!”  
“I’m trying, okay?!” Scott shouted.  
“Floor it!” Tessa urged.  
He floored it, but the wheels spun tractionless on the wet road. “Hang on!” Scott shouted, “Hang on, babe!”  
Melissa screamed, Tessa braced herself against the door. Winds hammered the truck and for a long moment, Scott was certain that the vehicle would flip. Finally, the winds stopped and Scott opened his eyes to see the tornado narrow to a rope. He threw open his door and rushed to the opposite side just as Tessa jumped from the truck. They watch the cyclone dissipate with wide smiles and laughs. Melissa, meanwhile, remained frozen in the backseat of the truck.  
Instinctively, Scott folded Tessa into her arms. They held each other for a long moment, laughing and smiling, seemingly forgetting the rift that had grown between them over the past several months.  
“God!” she spoke against his shoulder, “Wasn’t that incredible?”  
“Did you see it?!” he said, smile evident in his voice, “It was incredible!”  
The opening of a door sent Scott jumping from Tessa as if she were made of hot metal, “Oh!” He dashed over to his fiancée and wrapped his arms around her, “Oh, honey. Honey.”  
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he spoke, running his fingers through her hair.  
“No!” she said, shaking her head against his chest, “I’m not okay! _This_ is not okay! Okay?”  
“Aw, fuck,” Scott sighed, “I’m sorry. Babe, I didn’t think.”  
She buried her nose in his shoulder, “You know when you used to tell me you chased tornadoes, deep down, I always thought it was a metaphor.”  
Scott held her a little tighter, “Shhh, it’s okay.”

The team arrived as Scott worked to calm Melissa.  
“Did you see that?!” Tessa shouted at Alex as he pulled up, still riding the high of the tornado encounter, “I was in the middle of it!”  
“I was thinking,” Nathan said, nervously, “it may not be too bad of an idea if we just got the hell out of here? Because that was definitely too close back there.”  
Tessa’s eyes popped open wide, “Are you kidding?! This thing’s just getting started!”  
Chiddy, meanwhile, approached Tessa with a smirk, “Hey, you know what, Tess? Someone couldn’t help but notice how close we are to Wakita.”  
“No,” Tessa said.  
“Yeah,” Javi continued, “and Aunt Meg wouldn’t mind a pit stop, right?”  
“No,” Tessa said again, this time firmer.  
“Red meat,” Alex groaned, “we crave sustenance!”  
“Guys,” Tessa said with a shake of her head, “we are not invading my aunt!”  
Alex leaned forward toward Tessa, “Food.”  
The group began to chant, “Food! Food!”  
“Hey!” Tessa shouted, “We are absolutely not going!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure you can guess what happens next. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope to see you around tomorrow.   
> I know it's a rough time to be a Scott/Tessa shipper, but I'm sticking around for a while. I never did know when to leave a party.


	7. Nine million rainy days have swept across my eyes thinking of you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MEEEEEEEEEEEG!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of the last chapter comes from "Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season" by Jimmy Buffett.   
> Enjoy this next chapter.

The caravan pulled up in front of a two-story white Victorian style home with wooden shingles and a yard full of eclectic metal sculptures. An older woman with gray hair pulled back in a messy bun stood supervising a young man using a welding torch to attach pieces to a new sculpture.   
As the trucks rumbled into the yard, the older woman looked up in surprise. Her eyes opened wide as Scott and Tessa walked through the yard.   
“Scottie!” she shouted.   
“Meg!” Scott shouted, jogging across the grass. He turned back to gesture to Melissa, “Come on, honey!” He folded Meg into a tight embrace, lifting her from the ground, “Meg! How are you?!”  
Meg wrapped her arms tightly around Scott as he returned her to the ground, “Oh, it is so good to see you!”  
“Good to see you, too,” Scott said, releasing her from his grip.   
“Day before yesterday, I was telling Tess how much I miss you!” Meg said, taking Scott’s hands, “You haven’t seen any of my new work!”  
Then Meg noticed Tessa and dropped Scott’s hands, embracing her niece. “Tess! Oh honey!” she pressed a kiss against the apple of Tessa’s cheek, “Seen some action?”  
“You should have seen it,” Tessa said with a smile.  
“Meg!” Alex shouted, moving to embrace Tessa’s aunt.  
“Hey, guys!” Meg called as Alex released her. One by one, the crew embraced Meg before heading up the steps and into her house.

The sound of steak and eggs sizzling in cast iron skillets filled the house. Meg and some of the guys helped to serve the food while others chatted.   
“No, in a severe lightning storm, you want to grab your ankles and stick your butt up in the air,” Chiddy said, cutting into a steak.  
Kaitlyn smirked, “He’s right. If you’re gonna get hit, it’s the safest orifice.”  
Swallowing a bite of egg, Pojé half-joked, “Yeah. I think I’d like to get hit by lightning once. You know, just to see what it’s like.”  
Nathan reached across the table to pour himself a glass of lemonade, then brought it to his mouth for a taste. His eyes bulged out and he gasped, “Hey! This is real lemonade! Hey, Meg! I’m moving in here!”  
“You guys, look out,” Tessa said, coming to the table with a tray of steaks, “Make a space.”  
She took a pair of tongs and plopped a huge chunk of beef on Melissa’s plate. Melissa looked somewhere between disgusted and overwhelmed.  
“God, Meg, you’ve got a lot of beef,” Chiddy said, looking at the pile of steaks, “Where’d you get all this beef?”  
“Did you see my cows out front?” she asked with a wink.  
“No,” Chiddy replied.  
Meg raised her eyebrows, waiting for the young man to catch on.  
“Ohhhh!” Chiddy said, laughing.  
“You slaughter your own cows?” Alex asked, “Nice.”  
Tessa dropped bowls of mashed potatoes and gravy on the table.  
Alex offered a spoon to Melissa, “Potatoes?”  
“Better get some while you can,” Tessa urged.  
Alex, meanwhile had already piled potatoes on Melissa’s plate and was reaching for the gravy.   
“Meg’s gravy is famous,” he said, pouring it out onto her plate, “It’s practically a food group.”  
Melissa still hadn’t moved, not sure what do do or say, completely surrounded by Scott’s former life.  
Just then, Scott himself stepped into the room, ruffling his damp hair with a towel. “Shower’s free,” he announced.  
“I’m next!” Tessa said, almost running into Scott in her haste to reach the bathroom.  
After he awkwardly stepped around his not-quite-ex-wife, he saw Meg holding up a plate loaded with steak, potatoes, and a perfectly fried egg.   
“Oh, I want that,” he said, practically drooling as he took the plate from her hands.

Tessa walked through the living room where several of the guys were gathered around the television. She rolled her eyes, “How can you watch this garbage?”  
The video cut to an interview with Jonas and Scott jumped to turn up the volume, “Oh! You guys gotta see this!”  
Nathan huffed, warning the journalist through the TV, “Careful, buddy, he’ll steal your microphone.”  
“Well, for me, it’s the thrill of the hunt,” Jonas spoke in the interview and was met by a chorus of boos from the living room.   
His speech continued, “Man versus nature. Doing battle with the elements.”  
“So, as a scientist,” the journalist spoke, “can you actually _predict_ tornadoes now?”  
“Well, no,” Jonas replied, “They are very, very unpredictable, as some of my more _unfortunate_ colleagues found out earlier today--”  
“Oh turn it off,” Kaitlyn sneered, rolling her eyes.  
“But we hope to change that all with a system I have devised,” Jonas kept talking.  
“God, he sucks,” Alex groaned.  
“Shut up!” Chiddy shouted at the television.   
Pojé shouted another boo and Chiddy yelled for someone to turn him off.  
Scott shut off the TV while muttering, “What a dick.”  
“He really is in love with himself,” Tessa said, leaning against the doorframe, “I thought it was just a summer thing.”  
Alex pointed at Scott with a wink, “He’s gonna rue the day. Dude, he’s gonna rue the day he came against The Extreme, baby.”  
“Hear hear!” Nathan shouted, raising his glass of lemonade.  
“I’m talking imminent rueage. Imminent. Rueage.  
Melissa finally spoke up, “I was just wondering why do you call Scottie ‘The Extreme’?  
Alex smirked, “Cause Scottie _is_ the extreme.”  
“Scott is the most out of control son of a bitch in the game!” Kaetlyn said, nodding toward Scott.  
Scott cast a fleeting look toward Tessa and said, “No, I think I came in second, actually.”  
“Well,” Alex said, ignoring Scott, “I’ve seen The Extreme in high gear.”  
Tessa rolled her eyes, “You guys need some new stories. I’m gonna go clean up.” With that, she left the room.  
Undaunted, Alex continued with his story, “So, we get this one near Dalton--”  
“Oh god,” Scott muttered as everyone laughed.  
“We’re way too close and Tessa’s got her bead on it, she’s filming it, right? And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, this shitty looking green Valiant comes pulling up, right in the way--”  
“She starts yelling and this loser,” Eric jerked his thumb toward Scott, “stumbles out of the car. He’s got, like, a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. He’s naked--”  
“He’s _butt naked_ ,” Chiddy added.  
“Naked,” Eric emphasised.  
“ _Not_ naked,” Scott argued, drawing laughs from the table, “I was not naked.”  
“He’s _without apparel_ ,” Eric said with a wink.  
“Half naked,” Scott conceded.  
“Naked,” Alex picked up the story, “So, Tessa’s yelling at him to get out of the way, right? He just… he just strolls up to the twister and he says ‘Have a drink!’ Then he chucks the bottle into the tornado and it _never. Hits. The ground_.”  
“Twister caught it and sucked it right up,” Kaet said with a nod.  
Melissa fixed Scott with a concerned and confused look.  
Scott shook his head, “Babe, this is a tissue of lies. See, there was another Scott, an evil Scott-- and I killed him.”  
The table erupted in laughter and Alex playfully punched Scott’s shoulder.

“So, that tornado earlier,” Kaet asked, “what do you think EF3?”  
Scott shook his head, “Solid EF2.”  
Melissa gave a quizzical look, “See, now you’ve lost me again.”  
“It’s the Enhanced Fujita Scale,” Scott explained, “It measures the intensity of the tornado by how much it destroys.”  
“The little encounter we had back there by the lake was a strong EF2,” Nathan continued, “EF3, maybe.”  
“Bet we see some EF4s today,” Eric said, finishing a glass of lemonade.  
“That’d be sweet,” Kaitlyn said, refilling her glass.  
“4 is good,” Scott shrugged, “4’ll relocate your house fairly efficiently.”  
“Is there an EF5?” Melissa asked, causing the room to grow silent, “What would that be like?”  
Finally, Kaet spoke in a voice heavy with emotion, “Finger of God.”  
Melissa looked around the room, studying everyone’s faces, “None of you have ever seen an EF5?”  
Scott sighed, “Just one of us.” He casts his eyes toward the ceiling, toward the second floor bedroom where Tessa is currently getting dressed.

Tessa stood in front of a mirror, straightening her necklace and combing her hair with her fingers. Enjoying the moment of peace and calm-- enjoying a bit of space between herself and Scott, something that she once would have never imagined  
“Forget it,” Meg spoke from the doorway, “Doesn’t matter what you do, you’ll still be beautiful.”  
“You’re biased,” Tessa said with a smile.  
“Yes, I am,” Meg said, pausing for a moment before she continued, “Sounds like old times down there.”  
“Yes, it does.”  
Meg thought for a moment, choosing her words carefully, “He didn’t keep his part of the bargain.”  
“Which part?”  
“To spend his life pining for you and die miserable and alone.”  
Tessa’s face fell to a frown, “Is that so much to ask?”  
Meg took a seat on the bed, “I don’t know. Scott always went his own way, which was usually the same way you were going.”  
“Seems like a long time ago,” Tessa said with a wistful smile as she moved to stand by the window. Her mind wandered back to seasons past, spent with the Scott by her side every step of the way.   
“Not so long ago, Tess,” Meg said, “He’s here, isn’t he?  
Tessa didn’t comment on Meg’s statement, afraid to even dream that Scott might still love her, instead she watched the kinetic sculptures outside moving in the wind. “They’re so beautiful,” she whispered.

Alex held a radio to his ear, straining to hear the report over the chatter in the room.   
“We got one, baby!” he shouted, “Tornado on the ground a mile outside Parlaine!”  
The crew began rushing out of the house toward their vehicles.   
Scott grabbed Melissa’s elbow before she stepped off the porch, “You ride along with Alex, okay?”  
She nodded, “Okay?”  
“What’s the word on NWSChat?” Tessa asked.  
Kaitlyn looked up from her laptop, “Word is big!”  
“Alright,” Scott called, “let’s go, people!”  
“You know where Jonas is?” Tessa asked Chiddy.  
Patrick held up his phone, showing Jonas’s Facebook Live video. “He’s still in Milston, 30 miles from the storm.”  
“Let’s get moving!” Tessa shouted to the group before turning back to Patrick, “Can we beat him?”  
Chiddy was scanning his map of county roads, “I’m working on it.”  
“Thanks for stopping by,” Meg said, wrapping Tessa in a hug.  
“Sorry to eat and run,” Tessa apologized.  
Meg shrugged, “It’s what you live for.”  
Scott ran past, calling, “Bye!” to Meg.  
“Good to see you, Scott!”  
“Honey, I--” Melissa called out to Scott.  
“It’s okay,” he called back, “it’s okay.”  
“Tasty cow, Aunt Meg,” Alex said, stepping out onto the porch.  
Meg handed a bag of food to the perpetually hungry young man, “It’s for you, Alex!”  
“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said, wrapping Meg in a tight hug. He then turned to Melissa and placed an arm around her shoulder, “You and me, right?”  
Truck doors slammed around them and Melissa sneered, “Yes.”  
“Sweet, sweet,” Alex smiled.  
Melissa held out a hand to Meg and said, “Well, I-- it was a pleasure meeting you.”  
Meg shook her hand, “Likewise.” She gave Melissa a gentle nudge toward the trucks, “You’d better run!”

“Keys?” Tessa called, hurrying toward the red truck.  
Scott lifted his eyebrow and said, “What’s the magic word?”  
She jerked the keys out of his hand and jumped in the driver’s seat.  
“You’re welcome,” he huffed sarcastically.  
“Chiddy?” Tessa called into the radio as she started the truck.  
“Hang on!” Patrick called, checking his atlas again, “Uh, let’s go right through Wakita. We’ll take Myers Road past the fire station, then 132 to 44 east.”  
Scott took the radio and spoke, “Chiddy, if you find any shortcuts, let us know. We need every second!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	8. This tornado loves you, what will make you believe me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They throw themselves right back into the middle of the storm... and I mean that both literally and metaphorically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update. My internet was apparently being difficult the other day, so the chapter I meant to post got stuck as a draft. Then I was travelling.   
> Anyway.   
> You get a "bonus" chapter and this one's got some length to it.
> 
> The title of the previous chapter came from "Nine Million Rainy Days" by The Jesus and Mary Chain

The team sped out of Wakita and stormed into the countryside.   
“Okay, Chiddy,” Scott spoke into the radio, “time to impress me.”  
“Okay, about a mile up the road, there’s a little detour we’re gonna take,” Patrick replied, “a little walk in the woods!”  
Tessa turned the truck onto a narrow dirt road with thick brush on either side.  
“Okay, let’s get you wired,” Scott said as he picked up a lapel mic for Tessa. His hands found the hem of her shirt as he worked to clip the receiver on the waistband of her shorts. “Excuse me,” he mumbled, blushing a bit as his fingers brushed the skin on her back.   
She just hoped that he couldn’t feel the shudder that ran up her spine. As he clipped the mic to the strap of her tank top, he was close to her and Tessa felt the warmth rise in her face. She bit her lip almost hard enough to draw blood.  
He hoped that she couldn’t hear the way his breath hitched just a bit.   
After a few more moments of fumbling, Scott pulled away and said, “Okay, you’re on.”

While the tension in the first car was almost palpable, the occupants of the second car were having the time of their lives.    
“Whoo!” Kaitlyn shouted as the van nearly caught air coming off of a bump in the road. Pojé gripped the back of her seat with knuckles white, fighting motion sickness.   
Eric laughed, grabbed the mic off the cradle and shouted into it, “See, kids! An ordinary person spends his life avoiding tense situations!”  
Alex continued the quote, “Repo Man spends his life getting  _ into  _ tense situations!  _ Radford _ ! Whoo!”  
“Okay, Chiddy,” Scott spoke, interrupting the fun, “what have you got?”  
“Alright, Scott,” Chiddy said, looking up from his map, “turn left here toward that farm.”  
Tessa and Scott share a skeptical look.   
“You sure about that?” Scott asked.  
“Uhhh, yeah,” Chiddy said, double-checking the map, “Trust me. Chiddy is good. Chiddy is wise.”  
Tessa and Scott roll their eyes, but follow his instructions.    
“What the fuck?” Tessa said, looking at the narrow tractor path they’ve turned onto.  
“Goddamnit,” Scott picked up the mic again, “This is a field, Chiddy!”  
“I know, keep going,” he replied, “beyond it, right through that brush!” Patrick waited for a moment, expecting Scott to reply. “You see that brush right in front of you?” he asked.  
“Yeah, we see the brush,” Scott answered, “What’s beyond that?”  
“Beyond what?” Patrick asked.  
“‘ _ Beyond what _ ’?!” Tessa shouted.   
“ _ The brush _ !” Scott shouted into the mic, “A brick wall, a bearded lady, what?”  
“Oh!” Patrick said, “Uh, it’s the highway. It’s the highway!”  
They continued through the cornfield and Tessa slammed her hands on the wheel, grabbing the mic from Scott, “Where’s the road, Chiddy?!”  
“Yeah, where’s the road, man?” Javi asked.  
“It should be any moment,” Chiddy said a bit sheepishly.  
Suddenly Tessa and Scott’s truck burst through the brush right onto the highway. Loud honks and squealing brakes punctuated their arrival right in the midst of Jonas’s caravan.  
“Shit,” muttered Kaet.

“She’s insane,” Jonas said, switching the channels on his radio until he found Tessa’s, “You’re insane, Virtue! What are you trying to do? Get somebody killed?!”  
“Oh, really, Jonas? It was so nice of you to stop back there and make sure we were alright!” she shouted into the mic. Scott reached across and begins pulling it from her hands, but her yelling continued, “It was very considerate of you! How could you see ten people and a trashed truck on the side of the road and not stop?!”  
“Okay, okay, okay, okay,” Scott said trying to calm Tessa before he spoke into the mic, “Keep the channel clear.”  
“Dirtbag,” Tessa grumbled under her breath.

Scott looked out the window, staring at the clouds, then at the radar pulled up on Tessa’s tablet. “We’re gonna have to get off of this road,” he said.  
“What?” Tessa said, snapping her head in his direction, “This is no time to guess--”  
“I’m not guessing,” he said, “Just make a right turn. Trust me.”  
“Do you want to drive?” she snapped.  
“Just turn!” he snapped right back.  
Tessa abruptly turned on to a dirt road with her team following close behind.

“Do we follow?” Eddie asked, motioning toward Tessa’s team.  
Jonas watches them for a moment before shaking his head, “We do not.”  
They continued down the highway.

“What are they doing, man?” Javi asked, steering the truck after Tessa and Scott.  
“I don’t know,” Patrick asked, reaching for another map and studying it closely, “I’ve gotta find this road. It’s like ‘Bob’s Road’.”

“We’ve got a TVS!” Pojé said, looking up from his computer.  
Nathan grabbed the mic and relayed the information, “Showing a TVS on this storm!”  
“Where is it?” Tessa asked.  
“Looks like it’s coming down Route 33,” Nathan replied.  
Scott looked over at Tessa, “Tess, we’re on 33.”  
“What’s the path?” Tessa asked.  
“Storm’s moving about 35 miles per hour,” Pojé responded.  
“Can you see it?” Chiddy asked Javi.  
Javi shook his head, “I can’t. Where is it?”  
Chiddy picked up the mic, “Where are you guys looking?”  
Scott looked out every window, searching for a wall cloud or funnel or anything, “Where, where, where?”  
“Direction, Chiddy?” Tessa called into the radio.  
Chiddy scanned the sky with a pair of binoculars before spotting a funnel cloud. “North-northeast,” he said into the mic.  
“Do you see it?” Scott asked Tessa.  
She shook her head, “No.”  
“Do you got anything up there?” he mumbled as he continued looking.  
“North-northeast, you copy?” Chiddy called again.  
“Shit,” Scott huffed, “it should be coming right at us.”  
“This sucker’s really gaining strength,” Nathan said.  
“Do you see it?” Tessa asked.  
“No, I can’t,” Scott said, picking up the mic again, “Eric, we don’t have a visual. Repeat, we do not have a visual. Help us out here.”  
“Where is it?” Tessa mumbled.  
“Yeah, I got it, Scott,” Eric replied, “Most intense couplet I’ve ever seen!”  
“Chiddy?” Scott asked.  
“If you’re going east on 7, it should be coming right over that hill in a matter of minutes!” Chiddy responded.  
“This is the one, man,” Pojé said into the radio, “I feel it.”  
“It’s gotta be there,” Scott said, scanning the horizon.  
“Maybe it’s stalled,” Tessa offered.  
“No, I think Chiddy’s right,” Scott said, “It’s gonna show its ugly face right over that hill. Tess, what do you think?”  
“You gonna go for it, Tessa?” Alex asked over the radio.  
“T?” Scott asked again.  
Tessa nodded, “Time for deployment, guys! Let’s do it!”  
“Oh, man, this is the fun part!” Alex said, laughing and patting Melissa’s knee.  
The team stopped and began setting up, but Tessa and Scott continued on toward the storm.  
Hail began to fall, pelting the truck.  
“Okay, we got hail,” Scott said, looking out.  
“Hail,” Tessa said into the mic, “We got hail.”

“Javi, pull it over,” Patrick urged, “Anywhere in here. Here’s good. That’s good. That’s good. We got a big one, guys!”  
“Upflow, Eric, we have upflow, copy?” came Tessa’s voice over the radio.  
“Yeah, Tessa, I’m checking it out. Radar’s almost up,” Eric responded, waiting for their radar to begin its scan.

“Scott, right now,” Tessa said, “this is it.”  
“I’ll get her ready,” he said, lowering the back window and climbing out into the bed. He flinches as the hail pounds against his body.

“Do you see him?” Alex asked excitedly, “Do you see him?!”  
“What?!” Eric asked, poking his head out of the truck.  
“The red truck going right towards the core!” Alex shouted, pointing toward the storm.  
“No!” Eric gasped, dumbfounded by Tessa and Scott’s actions.  
“He’s not talking about Scottie, is he?!” Melissa asked, terrified.

“Are you okay?” Tessa called back as Scott worked on Dorothy. She slowed the truck down.  
“I’m alright!” he shouted through the window, “Keep going!”  
Tessa sped the truck back up while Scott flipped switches, causing indicator lights on Dorothy to glow and blink.

“Hey, Eric, we got a good view!” Dusty called, watching on the screen of the video camera.  
“Yeah, I can see it!” Eric called, still working on his computer, “Alright! I got it!”

Branches, shingles, chunks of wood, and tons of other material began to fly past Tessa and Scott’s truck.  
“Debris!” Tessa called into the mic, “We have debris!”  
A hunk of wood struck Scott in the shoulder as he worked to get a strap loose on Dorothy. When it finally comes free, he holds it up triumphantly.

“They’re in the bear cage! Oh my god! Oh my god! Melissa, look at this!” Alex said motioning for Melissa to join him, “Take a peek! You can practically  _ feel  _ it!”  
“No!” Melissa shrieks.   
“Oh, come on,” Alex continued urging, “what’s the matter?!”  
“You people are all crazy, do you know that?!” she shouted, stomping her feet.   
“What?” Alex said, shoulder falling as he stepped back from the camera.  
“Alex, are you set up?” came Tessa’s voice over the radio, “We’re not leaving until we get this!”  
Melissa pointed at the radio and shouted, “And she’s the craziest one of them all!”

“Okay, she’s almost ready!” Scott shouted.  
“Hold on,” Tessa replied, “We’re almost there. We’re almost there!”  
Suddenly, a fishing boat flew past them, slamming to the ground just behind the truck.  
“Whoa!” Scott yelled, “Stop! This is fine!”  
“Wait! We gotta get closer!” Tessa yelled, not slowing, “Just a little closer!”   
“Stop, Tess!” Scott shouted as a tricycle slammed into the windshield, causing it to shatter in a spiderweb pattern.  
“Okay, that’s close enough!” Tessa gasped, shocked by the impact.  
She slammed on the breaks, squealing to such an abrupt stop that Scott fell forward and hit his head on the roof of the truck, “Ow! Fuck!”  
He shook it off as Tessa leapt from the truck and ran around to the bed.   
“Okay, hurry, get the tailgate!” he shouted, trying to ignore the tornado looming just up the road from them.  
“You got it?” she asked.  
“Yeah, she’s all set,” he replied, “Help me get her down. Hurry! Let’s move!”  
He tried to unhook Dorothy as blue flashes from transformers illuminated the cyclone.  
“Scott! Hurry!” Tessa shouted.  
Scott continued trying to lift Dorothy out of the truck, only for the device to remain stuck.  
“Damn!” he cursed, “We gotta go now, come on!”  
“We can do this!” Tessa yelled, “Come on! Come on!”  
Suddenly, a telephone pole snapped and crashed down between Scott and Tessa, live wires barely missing them.  
“Scott!” Tessa shrieked.  
“Get down!” he yelled back, “Look out! Come on! Hurry!”  
Before they can move anywhere, the winds fade.  
“What the fuck?!” Scott called, “What happened?”

Eric hammered keys on his keyboard, clearly upset, “What’s going on?! Oh come on, I don’t believe this! What the hell?!”  
“What’s the radar say?” Javi asked.  
“I… I…,” Eric floundered while Kaetlyn looked over his shoulder then looked up.  
“The Cone of Silence,” she said quietly.  
“Tessa, Scott, it’s over,” Eric spoke into the radio, “The thing was stable and… and then it’s… it’s gone.”

A roar began to grow and Tessa studied the skies, “It’s backbuilding.”  
Scott nodded, “You’re right. We’ve got a jumper.”  
Tessa ran into the truck, grabbed the mic and called back, “Eric, it’s backbuilding. Keep tracking it.”  
Scott studied the pack. The frame of Dorothy was clearly bent to the point that the instrumentation inside was damaged.  
“Yeah, Tessa, we know,” Eric replied, “we’re too close to get a good reading. I think we should get out of here, you copy?”  
She didn’t even stay to hear his response. Instead, she moved to try pushing the pole off of Dorothy. “Scott!” she called, “Help! Help me!”  
“Tess,” he said, “we should leave.”  
“No,” she cried, almost hysterically, “No, help me! Help me!”  
“Forget it, Tess,” he argued, “we’ve got to get out of here now! It’s gonna drop!”  
“Eric will see it,” she said, “It it drops, if it’s anywhere near us, it’ll kill us.”  
Scott shook his head, “It’s not gonna drop anywhere _near_ us, it’s gonna drop right on us.”  
“Scott, come on, just a little more--” Tessa continued shoving the pole.  
Scott shook his head before storming over and grabbing her arm and pulling her away. She struggled against his grasp, “No, Scott! No! No, no, no, no, no! Go back!”  
He shoved her into the passenger seat of the truck, “Forget it, Tess, forget it!”  
Scott started the truck and revved it, managing to pull the vehicle out from under the pole.  
“Go back!” Tessa begged, “It’s not too late! Go back!”  
“Forget it,” he said, “it’s too late!”  
Tessa threw open the door of the truck and jumped out, dashing around to the bed to tug on Dorothy.  
“Help me!” she shouted, “Help me!”  
“What are you doing?!” Scott yelled, slamming the door shut, unaware that the mic had gotten hung with the talk button held down.   
“Help me!” Tessa screamed.  
“Tessa, it’s too damaged,” Scott called, “It’s over!”  
“What’s the matter with you!” she yelled, stomping her feet, “We can still do this!”  
“Jesus Christ, listen to yourself!” Scott demanded, “You’re obsessed!”  
“You’ve never seen what that thing can do, so don’t even talk to me about obsessed!”   
“I just saw it--”  
“ _You_ ’ve never seen it miss this house and miss that house, and come after you!”  
“Christ, Tess,” Scott sighed, “is that what you think it did?!”  
She huffed, annoyed at Scott and herself, “I don’t know.” Tessa turned and walked away, back toward the truck.  
“Jesus, Tess, why can’t you just forget it?!” he shouted.  
She turned on her heel and pointed a finger at him, “You don’t understand, okay? You’ll never know.”  
“When’s it gonna be enough, huh?” he asked, “How close do you have to get--”   
Scott reached out and and grabbed her arm to keep her from walking further away, “ _Talk to me_!”  
He pulled her around so that she was facing him, “Tessa, things go wrong. You can’t explain it. You can’t predict it. Killing yourself won’t bring your dad back. I’m sorry he died, but it was a long time ago. You’ve gotta move on. Stop living in the past and look at what you’ve got right in front of you.”  
“What are you saying?” she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.  
“Me, Tess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	9. We were running against the wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day ends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated! Things have been crazy with the holidays and being somewhere other than my actual house... anyways, I'm going to post two chapters tonight for you guys because I love you. 
> 
> Lyrics from the last chapter were from the song "This Tornado Loves You" by Neko Case.

After the sunset, the crew found themselves at a drive in movie with a motel and garage adjoining the property.  
Stephen King’s _The Shining_ played on the large screen as lightning flashed in the distance.  
Alex sat in the back of the van, watching the radar screen and checking NWSChat.  
Meanwhile, Melissa sat on the bed of a motel room, watching the weather on an outdated television. She toyed with the engagement ring on her left hand, thinking about the events earlier.  
A single tear ran down her cheek.  
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had been waiting for something to happen ever since she met Tessa and saw the chemistry that blazed between the her and Scott. However, she did not expect that something to be her fiancé’s confession of love for his estranged wife broadcast over the radio for the entire team to hear.

Tessa walked up to the concession building and leaned on the counter, “Excuse me, can I get eight coffees to go, please?”  
“Eight?” the girl questioned.  
“Yeah,” Tessa said with a nod.  
After the girl walked away, Tessa reached through the window to grab a pen that was sitting next to the cash register. She pulled the divorce papers from her back pocket and frowns. With a sigh, she flipped to the last page.  
He promised her one more day and now it’s over.  
Dorothy didn’t work and Scott’s engaged.  
It’s all over.  
She signed the blank at the bottom of the page.

“Two coffees, please,” came Scott’s voice from beside her, “Long day.”  
“Uh-huh,” Tessa sighed, unsure if Scott was talking to her or the concession stand employee.  
“You know, I’ve been thinking about the way Dorothy got hung up in the truck out there today on the highway,” he said, “I’m starting to wonder if there’s not some way that we can deploy them a bit faster. Might be a bit safer, too.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I don’t know. It’s just… time’s of the essence when you’re that close to a tornado. I’d rather not have any more close calls.”  
“What can we do about that?”  
He shrugged, “I’m not sure.”  
The employee interrupted them, presenting the coffees to them.  
“Thanks,” Scott said, taking his two cups.  
Tessa got distracted while reaching for the trays of coffee cups. The TV in the concession stand had gone to static. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed by a feeling of foreboding.  
Scott looked over to the motel where he saw Melissa standing outside the door.  
Tessa and Scott turned toward where the lightning flashes had been drawing closer.  
The wind picked up and a low rumble sounded over the movie.

In the van, Alex froze for just a moment, looking at the radar, “Jesus. It’s coming.”  
He shook his head, jumped from the van, and dashed toward Tessa and Scott, “Tessa! Scott! It’s coming! It’s headed right for us!”  
Scott shook his head and said in a voice so quiet that only Tessa could hear, “It’s already here.”   
He shouted, “Everybody underground now!”  
As he sprang into action, the tornado siren in the parking lot began to wail.  
“Scottie!” Melissa shouted, running across the parking lot.  
Scott grabbed Melissa’s hand, “Babe! Come on!” He tugged her hand and they ran toward the garage.  
“What’s going… what?” she said, confused, frightened, and tired.  
The roar had grown deafening and small debris was whipped through the air.  
“Tessa? Tessa!” Scott shouted, looking for Tessa, “Tessa, come on!”  
Meanwhile, Tessa stood transfixed, staring at the tornado. Suddenly, she snapped out of it and dashed to the concession stand. She banged on the windows with her open palms and screamed, “Get underground! Take cover right now! Go, go, go!”  
Everyone ran to the garage and almost everyone had made it in when Alex shouted, “The doors! Close the doors! Doors! Doors!”  
Scott looks around and realizes that Tessa still hasn’t joined them. He stood up and charged out of the building while Alex shouted after him.  
“Tessa! Come on!” he shouted.  
Tessa, however, had found Nathan cowering in his truck. “Come on, Nathan,” she urged, “take my hand.”  
“I can’t,” he said, breathing rapidly and eyes wide, clearly closing in on a panic attack.  
“ _Take my hand_ !” she shouted again.  
He finally reached out and grabbed her and she led him in a dead sprint to the garage.  
“Come on! Hurry!” Scott urged, waving them in, “Go, go, go! Let’s go!”  
As soon as they entered the room, Alex rolled the door shut.  
“Everybody down in the pit!” Scott yelled, “Get down! Let’s go, everybody down! Tess, move, come on!”  
Everyone scrambled into the maintenance pit on the floor of the garage where they all huddle against the walls. The whole building began to shake and debris smashed through the windows.  
“Stay calm!” Scott called out, barely audible over the whistling winds and roar.  
Suddenly, an air hose flew free from its latch and whipped through the air.  
“I got it! I got it!” Kaetlyn called, leaning out to grab the hose laughing triumphantly when she did. However, the moment was interrupted as a hubcap flew through the air and cut across Kaet’s forehead. Tessa reached out to grab the younger woman, pressing the sleeve of her jacket against the wound to stop the bleeding and holding Kaetlyn close.  
“My head!” Kaet gasped.  
“You’re okay,” Tessa said in her ear.  
Melissa clung to Scott, screaming in terror.   
He looked over her head to meet Tessa’s eyes. In the midst of the chaos, they found a bit of calm in one another’s eyes.   
Just as they had countless times before.   
Just as they thought they never would again.  
“It’ll be over soon,” Scott shouted into Melissa’s hair.  
“This is insane! This is insane! I don’t like this! This is driving me crazy! I can’t do this anymore!” Melissa screamed.  
“Stay calm,” Scott said.  
A car smashed through the wall of the building. The neon sign for the drive in theater crashed through the roof.  
Scott continued holding Melissa and saying “It’ll be okay” over and over again.  
The winds died down slowly and everyone began to move. Once they were certain that the storm had passed, everyone began to exit the garage. They moved slowly and very few words were spoken. A general feeling of shellshock had settled over the crowd.   
People picked through the rubble, looking for their belongings. Sirens wail as police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances rolled up on the scene.   
“Holy shit,” Scott sighed, running his hand through his hair as he surveyed the damage.  
Melissa stood next to him, frozen with shock.  
Scott walked away to begin working to clear rubble.  
Eric walked up behind Melissa and she spoke, “Is that what it was like up on that hill?”  
“That?” Eric asked, “No. We were lucky. The main funnel missed us.”

Alex had returned to the van to check what equipment was still functioning.  
Tessa stood over his shoulder looking at the data on the screen and discussing it with the younger man.  
“Can you tell which way it’s headed?”  
“It’s tracking northeast,” Alex said with a frown, “It… um… it looks to hit Wakita head on.”  
Tessa’s eyes went wide and she began rushing around to gather her team and equipment, “Let’s go! Let’s go!”  
“We’re going!” Alex said, throwing his equipment into the back of the van.  
“Tess, wait!” Scott called out.  
“Where’s the phone?” she shouted.  
“The lines are down, Tessa,” Eric said glumly, “I already tried.”  
“We’re going,” Tessa stated.  
“Damn it,” Scott sighed, “Hang on, I’ll drive.”  
“Hey, Tessa, look,” Chiddy said, “We can jump on the 38 exchange and cross Highway 132.”

Scott stepped away from the team and found Melissa. He took her hands, “Hey, babe, I gotta go.”  
“I’m going back,” she said quietly.  
“Good, good,” Scott said, patting her forearms, “you’ll be safe at the motel. I’ll see you in the morning.”  
“I won’t be there,” Melissa said, shaking her head.  
“What?” Scott asked, eyes growing wide, “Why? What are you saying?”  
“I’m saying goodbye.”  
“No--”  
“You know, I can’t compete with this,” she said, motioning toward the team, “I don’t even know where to start!”  
“Wait,” Scott said, tears filling his eyes, “don’t do this now, please!” His voice broke as he begged, “Please!”  
“Sooner or later it would have ended,” she continued, “we both know that.”  
“Please,” Scott said, tears beginning to fall.  
“The funny thing is, I’m not that upset,” she confessed, “What does that mean?”  
Just then, Patrick ran by, shouting, “Come on, let’s move!”  
“I never meant for any of this to happen,” Scott said, taking Melissa’s hands.  
“I know, Scottie,” she said, nodding, “I know. It’s okay.”  
“Scott, come on!” Alex shouted.  
“You go ahead,” Melissa urged. “She needs you,” she said, nodding toward Tessa, “I hope that Aunt Meg’s okay.”  
“What about you?” Scott asked, wiping the tears from his eyes.  
“Oh, don’t worry about me,” Melissa said with a sad smile, “I know my way home.”  
Then she turned and walked away.  
“We can be in Wakita in an hour,” Chiddy said, “Scott, come on!”  
Scott knew she was handing him an ultimatum.  
He _should_ tell her he would stay.  
He _should_ take her into his arms and apologize for the day.  
He _should_ take her back into the hotel room and spend the night with her pressed against his chest.  
That wasn’t what he did.  
With a nod, Scott dropped her hands, turned, and walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading


	10. We need the rain to wash away our bad luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team chases the storm toward Wakita. What do they find when they get there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics for the previous chapter were from "Against the Wind" by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

As the caravan rolled into Wakita, it barely resembled the town they had visited just hours before. The ‘Welcome to Wakita’ sign had fallen to the ground. Buildings were in ruins. The smell of natural gas filled the air and there were several places where arcing power lines had sparked fires. The lights of emergency vehicles and searchlights illuminated the destruction. Crying children echoed through the darkness and families picked through the rubble.  
“Oh my god,” Scott breathed. They were too late.  
Tessa had retreated into herself. He knew that she was angry at herself, that she somehow believed that this was her fault.  
“They had no warning,” she said, shellshocked. Looking out the window, she saw a mother and father hugging each other while their children clung to their legs. Tessa almost broke, seeing herself and her family in the scene.  
Meg’s house was almost unrecognizable. It had been compacted into one story, but most of the wind sculptures still stood.   
“Oh my god,” Tessa gasped.  
He barely had time to stop the truck before she had darted out, racing toward the house.  
“Tess! Wait!” Scott called after her.  
“Meg!” Tessa shouted.  
Scott ran after her, “Tess, wait!”  
“Meg!”  
Scott grabbed Tessa’s arm, “Careful, this house could go any second.”  
“Meg!” Tessa shouted again.  
“T, take a flashlight,” he said, handing her a flashlight. They stepped into the house, which was now a maze of destruction and debris.  
“Meg!” Tessa called again.  
“This house is ready to go,” Scott muttered.  
“Meg!”  
A cabinet crashed to the floor as they walk past, Scott grabbed Tessa’s arm, pulling her back, “Careful.”  
“Meg!” Tessa called and Scott echoed.  
Suddenly, they heard the whimper of a dog.  
“Shh, you hear that?” Tessa said, holding up a hand to stop Scott.  
“What?”  
“I think I hear something.”  
He held her arm as she stepped onto a particularly loose section of floor, “Easy does it.”   
Tessa followed the sound and suddenly saw Meg’s golden retriever, Mose, through a gap in the floor beneath them.  
“Meg!” Tessa called out.  
“Mose!” Scott called to the dog.  
“Mose!” she said, realizing that the dog would almost certainly be somewhere near his owner, “I think she’s down here. Meg? We’re here! We’re coming down!”  
Beyond a pile of rubble, they saw Meg. She was trapped under a wall frame, bleeding from her head and chest.  
“Meg!” Scott said, happy to see the older woman, “We gotta get this off of her, Tess. Ready?”  
“Don’t move, don’t move,” Tessa said to her aunt before turning to Scott, “Watch her head.”  
“Go!” Scott said, urging Tessa to help him lift the framing. As he holds the boards above Meg, he told Tessa, “I got it.”  
Tessa worked an arm around Meg and began to help her up, “Easy, easy, easy. Are you okay?”  
“Oh, I’m alright,” Meg waved off their concern, “I’m fine.”  
Suddenly, a stereo slid toward them; however, it stopped short, caught by its cord. They all had braced for impact and slowly peeked out.  
“We gotta hurry. Let’s go,” Scott said before turning to Meg, “Think you can walk?”  
Abruptly, the cord snapped and the stereo crashed to the floor near them.  
“Watch out!” Scott shouted.

From outside, the crew watched as the house began to buckle.  
“Meg! Meg! God! Meg! Tessa! Scott!” Alex shouted, pacing, “Someone take my-- Andrew, take my watch.” Alex removed his wristwatch and handed it to Pojé before running over to the window Tessa and Scott had used to enter the house.  
“Be careful!” Eric shouted after his friend.  
“Scott?!” Alex called out into the window and he is relieved when he spotted Tessa and Scott carrying Aunt Meg.  
“We’re okay,” Tessa shouted, “we’re coming out.”  
“Get an ambulance over here!” Scott shouted.  
Alex reached in to help pull Meg through the window, “Get an ambulance, Nathan! Now! Go!”  
Nathan dashed off to flag down an ambulance, which stopped in front of the house. A paramedic hopped out, pulling a stretcher behind him. He helped to lay Meg atop it.  
“Alright,” Pojé said, smiling as Meg settled onto the stretcher.  
“There you go,” Chiddy said, brushing hair from her eyes.  
“Okay, okay,” Meg said, waving them off.  
“How about some steak and eggs?” Eric teased her, drawing a laugh from Meg.  
“How nice of you all to come over,” she teased.  
As the paramedics began loading her into an ambulance, she called out, “Scott! Grab Mose for me! I think he’s a little shaken up!”  
“Don’t worry,” Scott waved, “I’ll get him.”  
“Mose!” he called, running back toward the house.

“Is she okay?” Tessa asked the paramedic examining Meg.  
“We’ll probably keep her overnight,” he said, “just to be safe.”  
“Overnight?” Meg said incredulously, “Forget it. I’m alright.”  
Tessa frowned, “You’re going to the hospital.”  
“Okay, I’ll go,” Meg conceded, “but I’m gonna drive myself.”  
“Honey,” Chiddy said, placing a hand over Meg’s, “your car is in a tree around the corner.”  
Meg let out a frustrated moan as the paramedics load her into the ambulance to work on her.

Moments later, they had her fitted in a wrist brace and were working to apply a bandage to her head.  
“What are you still doing here?” Meg said, studying Tessa’s expression.  
“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” Tessa said before asking the paramedic, “Is she okay?”  
“She’ll be alright,” he said, finishing the bandage, nodding to them both, and exiting the ambulance.  
“I was worried about you,” Tessa said.  
“It’s nothing,” Meg said quickly, “He said I have a bump on the head and maybe a broken wrist.”  
“Let me see that,” Tessa said, motioning toward Meg’s wrist.  
“There’s nothing to see,” Meg said, “it doesn’t even hurt.”  
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Tessa whispered.  
“Stop blaming yourself,” Meg said, “You got me out of the house.”  
She watched tears beginning to stream down Tessa’s face. Meg cupped the young woman’s jaw and lifted her face to look at her, “Tessa, it’s gotta stop. I didn’t have any warning. The sirens went off a few seconds before it hit. I didn’t even have time to get down the stairs.”  
“Tessa,” Alex interrupted, leaning against the door of the ambulance, “I’m sorry… uh… I was listening to the radio and, I mean, I don’t even know if you wanna know, but I… it’s happening. Conditions have never been so...”  
“Tess, it could happen to somebody else,” Meg said, “You go stop it.”  
Tessa’s voice is quiet, but thick with tears, “I don’t know how.”  
“Well, I think you do,” Meg said with a smile, patting Tessa on the cheek, “You’ve been chasing these things since you were little. It’s what you do. Go. Do it.”

The ambulance pulled away, leaving Tessa standing on the street, watching it leave.  
She heard Scott walk up behind her, “You alright?”  
Tessa didn’t speak.  
“I thought you’d go to the hospital with Meg.”  
Still nothing.  
“Tess? What is it?”  
She looked at the metal strewn about the yard, “I know how to unload Dorothy.”  
Scott looked out and nodded as the same thought occurred to him, “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Two chapters to go.


	11. Oh, a storm is threatening my very life today

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonas meets his fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics from the last chapter title come from the song "Electrical Storm" by U2.
> 
> This is the penultimate chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

During a brief stop at a service station, they managed to rig up some wheels and a ramp for the Dorothy pods in the back of Scott’s truck. After a practice run, they mastered the rapid deployment of the pods.   
“Great job, guys!” Eric called over the radio, “Just be ready to report. Be careful, alright?”   
“Don’t follow us too close,” Tessa replied.   
“Alright, you got it, boss,” Andrew called back.  
As was to be expected with conditions so favorable, a massive tornado was spotted within an hour of reaching the chase area.   
“Come on,” Alex shouted, “let’s go!”   
“Half a mile more?” Tessa asked as they barrelled up the road toward the tornado.  
“That sounds right,” Scott nodded, “I figure we’ll put it right in the middle of the road.”   
“Unless you think somebody’ll hit it.”   
“Nobody’ll be there.”

A ferocious wedge tornado roared toward the road.  
Scott stopped the vehicle and he and Tess moved to the back of the truck.   
They had only moments to work.  
“Hurry, let’s go!” Scott shouted, flipping switches and activating the new Dorothy, “Alright, that’s good.”  
“You got it?” Tessa asked, grabbing one end of the strap.  
“Let’s go,” he said, dropping the ramp then unclipping the strap. Dorothy slid down the ramp and onto the road.  
They jumped back into the truck and Tessa grabbed the radio, “Alex, are you in position?”  
“Yeah,” he said, “we’re primed and ready to go.”  
Once the truck was a safe distance away, Scott and Tessa stopped and watched.  
“This is it,” she said.  
“It’s gonna work,” he added.  
“Just another minute, Alex,” Tessa spoke into the radio.  
“We’re ready for it,” came his voice in return.  
Tessa set up her video camera and watched as the tornado caused Dorothy to wobble back and forth across the road.  
“Come on, come on,” she muttered, “take her.”  
“It’s too light,” Scott huffed.  
“No, it’s not,” she growled.  
As if on cue, the tornado flung the instrument across the road, out of its path.  
Scott ran a hand through his hair while Tessa muttered, “Fuck.”  
He threw the truck into reverse and drove like a bat out of hell to get away from the storm.  
Without prompting, knowing exactly what his coworkers would say, Chiddy said, “It’s moving northeast on 80.”  
“This is it,” Scott said, looking over at Tessa, “Last one.”  
“Last time,” she echoed. 

Jonas’s caravan charged forward, close to intercept.   
“Mobile Lab to Mobile One,” came a call over the radio, “ground speed still increasing. The base must be a mile wide. We can’t even see it anymore. What is your location.”  
Jonas picked up the mic and responded, “We’re right alongside her. She’s beautiful. We’re getting ready to deploy, so hold back a bit and prepare to monitor.”

Tessa and Scott notice the trucks ahead, dangerously close to the tornado.    
“They’re getting close,” Scott said. Tessa nodded.

“Okay, path is stable, copy that?” Jonas spoke into the radio, “Men, this is it. This is the one. Stay sharp back there.”

“They have position,” Scott said, “They could make it.”  
“Not unless they anchor the pack,” she said, switching the frequencies on the radio, “Jonas? This is Tessa. Can you hear me?”  
“Not now, Virtue,” he growled into the radio.  
“Jonas, listen to me,” she continued, “The pack is too light, the twister will toss it before it reaches the core. You have to anchor it.”  
“Oh, sharing valuable information, Tessa?” he said, voice full of snark, “I’ll consider that, thank you.”  
“Jonas, listen to me! Don’t be a--” Tessa was cut off by Scott pointing, “What? Do you see them?”  
Scott grabbed the mic from Tessa’s hands, “Jonas, what’s your position?”  
“Oh, howdy, Scott,” Jonas answered, “We are heading northeast running parallel and about to pull ahead of it on the left, why?”  
“Hang back a minute,” Scott urged, “we’ve got a pretty good view from back here. She could shift her track and, if she does, she’s gonna come right at you. Do you copy?”

“Maybe we should do what he says,” Eddie said, looking over at Jonas, “He’s never put us in harm’s way.”  
“When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you,” Jonas snapped, “Keep your mouth shut, put your foot on the gas, and stay. On this. Heading.”

“Jonas, listen to me,” Scott urged, “This is not--”   
“Get off this frequency, Moir!” Jonas interrupted, shutting off his radio.   
“She’s shifting,” Tessa spoke.   
“Oh my god,” Scott gasped, he continued talking into the radio, hoping that Jonas or Eddie could hear them, “Jonas, I’m telling you… Eddie, I know you can hear me! Turn around now! Get out of there!”  
Just as Tessa had observed, the tornado shifted direction and plowed into Jonas’s crew. Tessa and Scott watch as the black vehicles are scattered like toys. They watch as a mast from a radio tower slams into Jonas’s vehicle.   
Tessa flinched, her hands grip Scott’s arm and she hides her face against his shoulder.   
Scott threw the radio mic against the dash and shouted, “Damnit! Stupid.” He slammed his forehead against the steering wheel.   
She reached over to lightly embrace him, “We tried. There’s nothing we could do.”   
“Yes, there is,” Scott muttered.   
Eric’s voice sounded over the radio, “Tessa, Scott, ground speed is increasing. Get ahead of it as fast as you can or you’ll lose it.”

Mere moments later, Tessa and Scott were flying down the road in the wake of the cyclone. Debris begins pelting the truck and Tessa calls into the mic, “Debris! Alex, we have debris!”  
“Debris?!” Scott shouts as a large chunk of a roof crashes to the ground beside the road.   
“Tessa, Scott. You alright?” Alex asked over the radio.  
“Yeah,” Tessa answered, “You guys set up?”  
“We’re set, Tessa,” he replied, “Going in?”  
She nodded, “We’re going in.”  
“You ready?” Scott asked, looking at Tessa.  
“I’m on it,” she said, removing her seatbelt.  
“Be careful.”  
Tessa lowered the back window of the truck and activated the switches on Dorothy before crawling back into the cab.  
“She’s up,” she answered.  
“Okay,” Scott said, nodding and gritting his teeth. He turned the truck and it began plowing through a cornfield directly toward the tornado.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. One chapter to go.


	12. I can see clearly now, the rain is gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all ends here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, it's time for the last chapter. Word of warning-- it is terribly, terribly short.  
> The title of the previous chapter came from "Gimme Shelter" buy the Rolling Stones.

“Where are they?” Chiddy said, looking through his binoculars, “I can’t see them!”  
“The speed’s still increasing,” Kaitlyn said, watching the readings from the radar.   
Eric nodded, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“You ready?” Tessa asked.  
“Yeah,” Scott said, nodding, “Let me set the cruise control.” He pressed a button on the steering wheel and looked at her, “We’re good.”  
“On three?” she asked.  
“On three,” he confirmed, “Go.”  
They opened the doors and stood on the in the doorway of the truck as it sped toward the tornado.  
“Ready?” Scott asked.  
“Ready!” Tessa responded.  
“One… two… three!”  
They jumped out of the truck and rolled to the ground. As quickly as they could, they got up and watched the truck continue into the cyclone.  
Tessa held up her hand, following the truck as it moved, “Go! Go! Go! Go! Goooo!”  
It hit the tornado and disappeared into the dust.  
“Yes!” Tessa screamed, “Yes!”   
Scott grabbed her and held her tight against his chest.

The team celebrated, shouting and embracing.   
“Guys,” Kaitlyn interrupted, “it’s about to shift northeast.”  
Not thinking about the fact that their radio was now in said storm, Alex shouted into the mic, “Tessa, Scott, you’ve gotta get out of there! You copy!”

Scott’s eyes grew wide as he realized that the storm had changed direction, “Oh no! Run!”  
They took off running through the field as fast as possible until they exited the rows and found themselves in the middle of a farm.  
“The barn!” Scott shouted, “Come on!”  
“Scott, here!” Tessa called, finding a gap in the fence.  
He threw open the barn door as debris began hammering the wooden walls. Sickles, knives, saws, and all manner of tools hung from the ceiling.  
“Stay down!” Scott shouted.  
“My god,” Tessa gasped, “who are these people?!”  
“Let’s get out of here!” Scott shouted, taking her hand and running out another door.  
An old root cellar was right outside the door and Scott motioned toward it, “Come on!” He struggled to open the old wooden door, “Tess, get in!”  
No sooner than Scott had latched the door of the cellar they heard the roof and the wood straining against the winds of the tornado.  
Tessa knelt in the corner and Scott covered her with his body, holding her tightly and bracing himself against the wall.  
She buried her face in his chest, digging her fingers into his side. In her mind, she was thrown back years ago and a very similar situation.   
“Please don’t let go, please don’t let go,” she mumbled against him, terrified that history would repeat itself and rip another man she loved from her arms.  
“I’m right here, babe,” he promised, “I’ve got you. I’m not going anywhere.”  
For the briefest of moments, Scott feared that the door would be ripped off, but then the wind begins to fade.

How long Tessa and Scott sad, frozen in place, they may never know.   
It somehow felt like an eternity, but it couldn’t have been more than five or ten minutes. Scott straightened up and looked toward Tessa, realizing that he couldn’t see shit in the dim light of the cellar. He unlatched and threw open the door, using the daylight to examine her for injuries.   
“You alright?” she asked.   
He nodded, taking her shaking hand to lead her from the cellar. They looked out over the farm and saw a family standing beside a house, the only building on the property remaining. “Wow, look at that,” he said, “It didn’t take the house.”  
“We did it,” Tessa spoke, remembering the events before they took shelter.   
“Yeah, we did.”  
“It was a good idea.”   
“Yeah, well, I--”   
Tessa interrupted him, eyes wide with realization, “We’ve got so much to do.”   
“Yeah.”   
She began to rant, “I’ve got to get grant approvals for a new warning system. We need a bigger lab. You’ve got to do an analysis of all that data--”   
“ _I_ do?” he questioned.  
“Yeah,” she said, never even considering that he might be refusing to stay,“we’ve got to generate models out of all this data and I need to run the lab--”   
“Oh, no no no,” Scott said, wagging a finger, “You’re doing the analysis. I’m running the lab.”  
“You’re running the lab?” she scoffed, “I don’t think so!”   
“I’m running the lab!” he argued, “Do you always have to do things the hard way?”

“You did it guys! The sensors worked,” Kaitlyn shouted from where the team’s vehicles had parked along the driveway, “The computers went crazy. We’ve got data coming out of our ears!”  
“Biggest twister ever recorded!” Eric added.  
“Awesome, man!” Alex shouted, pumping his fist.  
Javi pointed past Scott and Tessa to where the sky was beginning to clear, “Hey, Scott, Tessa, check out that sky!”  
“You know what?” Tessa smirked, “I think we’ve seen enough.”  
Scott chuckled as she placed a hand along his jaw turning him to face her. Without a moment’s hesitation, she pressed a passionate kiss against the lips of her husband.  
Their lives would never be calm, but at least they had some stability together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading!  
> As of the time of publishing this last chapter, this fic is my second most-read fic on AO3. I can't thank you guys enough for the reception this work has received. It's a tumultuous time in the fandom and I was worried that maybe people wouldn't be in a place where they would want to read something like this. Thank you all for proving me wrong. 
> 
> And, for the record, the title for this chapter comes from "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash.

**Author's Note:**

> I know that this chapter was short, but I promise that they'll get longer in the future.   
> This one was just really to set everything in motion.


End file.
